Danganronpa: The Indianapolis Killing Game
by ChaosFlash912
Summary: 16 individuals, all with great talent, have been accepted into a branch of Hope's Peak Academy opening up in Indianapolis. When they get there however, they find that it was too good to be true. Will any of them be able to survive this madness? Rated M because that's what DR usually is rated.
1. Prologue

**Prologue: A Horrible Night to Have a Curse**

"..."

"...Hey buddy…"

"...Come on, wake up. I haven't got all day."

"..."

I felt a sharp pain in my arm after that.

"Ow ow ow ow!" I exclaimed. My eyes quickly shot open, as I found myself in a place I have never seen before. It looked like a social studies classroom, and I was asleep on the floor. Keyword being was, because this guy who was telling me to get up was twisting my arm around - I don't think my elbow was supposed to be facing that way either.

I guess I should introduce myself before I go any further.

My name is Desmond Clue, and I'm an 18 year old high school student from Indiana. I'm also a huge fan of the stage. I don't know what it is, but whenever I'm on the stage I feel like I belong. Ever since it was available, I've been in choir during my years of school, and all of my teachers have commented how I was an amazing performer because of how natural it all felt to me. My stage performances weren't limited to just choir - I've also been in numerous stage plays. In fact, I was even on Broadway once!

So one day I got this letter in the mail from a place known as Hope's Peak Academy - it looked legit, and I was so excited to find out I was accepted into this prestigious school. What was even better was they were opening a school up in Indianapolis, which wasn't that far of a drive away from my house!

Hope's Peak Academy is a pretty cool place - apparently if you go there, you're set for life. The only two qualifications are as follows. First, you have to be attending high school. And secondly, you have to be talented enough to where you're the best of the best in your field. It doesn't matter what field you are in, so long as you're the best.

And according to the letter I got, I was accepted as the Ultimate Baritone. Pretty fitting if you ask me.

Anyway, that's enough about that. I looked myself over - I stand five foot nine and weigh 145 pounds. I have light brown hair hidden under a blue fedora, fair skin, and blue-green eyes. I have a cream colored button up long sleeve under a charcoal gray suit jacket, relaxed khaki pants, and black slip-on dress shoes. I also had on a black and white striped tie done in a double windsor knot.

The kid standing above me looked to be about my age, standing five foot ten and weighing 140 pounds. He had short, sandy brown hair, fair skin, and dark blue eyes. He had on a duster similar to my suit jacket in color under a royal blue dress shirt, khaki pants, and black dress shoes. He was eerily dressed similarly to me...sort of.

"Huh? What? Where am I?" I asked frantically. "What's going on?"

"Get up," The boy stoically responded. "There are better places to sleep than on the floor."

As I got up off the carpeted floor, I decided to strike up a conversation with him. "Who are you anyway?"

"...David Stonebreaker," The boy answered. "Do you remember anything before you woke up?"

"Well...I was dropped off at the front door by mom since I got a letter saying I was accepted here at Hope's Peak Academy," I explained, scratching the back of my head. "Then as I walked in the door I felt this sharp stinging pain in the back of my neck...now I'm here."

"I see…" David put a hand to his chin. "So you walked in, were incapacitated, and then woke up here?"

"Dude, I just literally said that," I responded with a frown. "Anyway...Desmond Clue. Are we the only two here?"

"Actually no," David answered. "I volunteered to check if anyone else was left in the building. We're all in the Commons. This is the last room I had to check among the areas that were not blocked off."

"Okay...think you could take me to the 'Commons'?" I requested. "I think I should introduce myself to everyone."

"Yes, we haven't gotten formal introductions out of the way between us and them," David agreed.

"Wait, you didn't introduce yourself yet to the others?" Desmond raised an eyebrow.

"...Let's go." With that, David was already headed out the door to take me to the Commons. I was following after him before I could even ask him to answer me.

We walked down a short hallway with a couple classrooms in it, one for each subject. I felt like this school's academic wing was only meant for a small group of people, which was me, David, and whoever else our classmates were.

The Commons was a moderately sized cafeteria with fourteen other individuals inside, each in their own respective corners of the room. To greet us, there was a man who stood six foot one and weighed 160 pounds, possessing dark brown hair, fair skin, and icy blue eyes. He had on a white muscle tee, army camo cargo pants, and sandy brown combat boots. And he looked like he was a bit mad at me and David. Namely me.

"You! Name and rank!" The man shouted, pointing at me.

"I'm not a soldier, man!" I exclaimed back.

"That is not how you are to address a soldier!" The man folded his arms sternly.

"He just woke up, sir," David calmly said.

"How can you be so calm!?" I asked, shocked. "We're not soldiers in an army!"

"Oh...forgive me," The man chuckled. "I was just giving you a hard time."

"Yeah, let's forget you screaming in my face just a moment ago," I deadpanned. "Desmond Clue. This here is David Stonebreaker. And you are…?"

"Chase Adams! The Ultimate Marine!" The man boldly proclaimed.

Chase Adams...he told us his story as we were trying to forget how he was yelling at me like a rabid animal. From what he told me, Chase seemed to have a genetic gift working in his favor when he started basic training. The effort and his performance was enough to cause the drill sergeants to openly respect him, a feat thought impossible by the other cadets. No wonder he got his title - even I think that's impossible, and I've never seen any sort of army base in my life, so I don't know what they're like.

"Anyway, David here thinks he and I should meet up with everyone else," I said.

"By all means." Chase nodded, stepping aside. "Report to me once you're done, Clue."

"I just said I'm not a soldier…" I frowned. Who made this guy leader? Not that I think he's a bad guy or anything, but he seems like the drill sergeants that befriended...actually, that makes perfect sense.

On a more calm note, the next individual we met was currently using one of the cafeteria tables to do stretching. She was the same age as me and David, standing five foot eight and weighing 131 pounds. She had short black hair, almond brown skin, and light brown eyes. She wore a bright yellow tank top, light blue ripped denim shorts, and white running shoes. She also had a white bandana wrapped around her forehead along with a pair of red, white, and blue striped sweatbands on her wrists.

If these people are either older or younger than me, I'll say so.

"Hey...miss?" I asked.

The woman looked at David and I. "Hmm? What is it?" She had a serene way of speaking, her voice soft as feathers.

"We just thought we'd get to know everyone," David said. "David Stonebreaker, and this is Desmond Clue."

"I see." She turned to bow to us. "I am Olivia Jones, the Ultimate Track Star."

Olivia told us all about her exploits - her true strengths lied within track and field. She possesses top of the line agility and dexterity, and those abilities earned her medals, trophies, and even was offered a spot on the US Olympics Team. Speaking of which…

"So hey...about that spot on the US Olympics Team…" I began. "What happened to that?"

"Oh that? I turned it down," Olivia answered.

"What? But why!? You're an amazing athlete!" I exclaimed.

"...Personal values," Was Olivia's answer. It was very clear she didn't want to say anything else, until David whispered something in my ear.

"Do you know how much love making goes on at the Olympic Village?" He asked.

"Ah...okay," I responded. "Sorry for asking, Olivia."

"Think nothing of it, Desmond," Olivia said with a smile.

We decided to move on to the next individual, who was pacing back and forth down one of the rows in the Commons. He stood five foot six and weighed 130 pounds, having light blonde hair, tan skin, and emerald green eyes. He had on a tan polo shirt with a short dark red tie, black slacks and light brown loafers.

"Hey, are...you okay?" I asked him.

"Am I okay? I don't know where I am, how I'm going to call my dad, and why we're all together in this windowless room," The young man said. "So to answer your question, no. I'm not okay."

"We're all in the same boat with you," David reassured him. "You got a name?"

"Why yes. You're looking at the sole owner of Ackermann Shipping Company, Maxwell Ackermann. The Ultimate Dispatcher!" The young man answered with a smile.

Maxwell was the owner of Ackermann Shipping Company, or ASC for short - a trucking business that was known for never missing a delivery. His leadership skills and planning led to ASC gaining their respected reputation of always being on time.

"With someone as bright as you, I say we appoint you as the leader," I mused. "Desmond Clue, and this is David Stonebreaker."

"Pleasure to meet you, gentlemen," Maxwell chuckled. "I hope we can get along."

"Yeah, same here," I smiled. Maxwell was a cool guy. I think we'll get along.

The next woman we met was in the far left corner of the Commons, writing down something in a notebook that must have come from here somewhere. And she was absolutely...stunning.

She was 20 years old, who stood five foot eight and weighed 138 pounds, who had long crimson colored hair, light skin, and chocolate brown eyes, and she had...uh...how you say, 'big tracts of land.' She had on a silver sequin dress that reaches down to her knees, black translucent leggings, and hot pink Mary Janes. Around her neck is a silver chain necklace with a heart shaped ruby charm.

"What a woman…" I breathed. David elbowed me swiftly.

"Keep it in your pants," He murmured.

"Oh?" The woman looked up from her notebook and turned to us. "I am quite the looker, aren't I?"

"Y-Yeah…." I stammered. "Nice to meet you."

"Forgive my friend's hormones," David deadpanned.

"No problem," The woman smiled. "I've plenty of fans, but I've never tied myself down. I am Melissa Scarlett, the Ultimate Mystery Novelist."

"Wait, you're THE Melissa Scarlett!?" I exclaimed with surprise. "I am a huge fan of your work!"

Coming from a wealthy family, Melissa always had a fascination with the mystery genre - her skills resulted in her writing several NY Times bestsellers - her latest novel 'A Dagger of Crimson' had sold out within record time. She's basically written about every single crime you can imagine, ranging from adultery, to armed robbery, to even the assassination of royalty.

"I see, that's wonderful," Melissa giggled. "It's nice to know I have some fans here."

As we walked on to the next individual, David looked at me. "Are you sure she's in your league?"

"What? Why are you asking that?" I responded.

David had a very brief, coy smirk, before his normal expression returned. "You seemed to have a crush on her."

Our next individual to meet was a man who was seemingly talking to himself, as if he was in front of a camera. Standing five foot nine and weighing 143 pounds, the man had dark brown hair done back in a slick and neat way and a bushy mustache reaching just to the edges of his mouth, slightly tanned skin, and pale green eyes. He was wearing a white button up dress shirt with a black tie underneath a burgundy colored suit jacket and pants, along with brown loafers, topped off with a gold wristwatch on his left wrist.

David and I had absolutely no clue what he was blabbering about, but we decided to ask anyway.

"Um...are you feeling alright, sir?" I asked.

The man turned to us, firmly standing at attention with a flashy smile. "Whenever there's a mystery or a hard-pressing headline, you can expect me to be there."

"...Ron Burgundy? Is that you?" I asked again. The man shook his head no.

"Not at all. The name is Ronnie Patrick, Ultimate Journalist," He introduced.

I've heard about this guy from multiple headlines - Ronnie Patrick is a man who wanted to find the truth no matter how much it hurts. His investigative work has exposed corruption on both the local and national level, but I think it has made him many enemies.

"At your service," Ronnie added.

"Okay, that's good to know," I said.

"You're an investigative journalist, right?" David asked.

"Why yes I am," Ronnie smirked. "I do say I'm quite the best at getting to the bottom of things. And mark my words, I'll get to the bottom of our situation!"

"...Let's go with that," David remarked. "We need to go."

"Stay classy, gentlemen," Ronnie waved us goodbye as we moved on to the next Ultimate.

Said next Ultimate was leaning up against one of the walls while looking down at the ground. Around 17 years old, she stood five foot four and weighed about 135 pounds. She had medium length black hair done in two braided ponytails, fair skin, and ocean blue eyes. She had on a navy blue zip-up hoodie with the hood over her head - with a Chicago Fire Department logo on the back, light blue jeans with ripped portions on them, and black ankle boots. Everything in my mind was telling me this girl was dangerous, but if she was in my class I had to introduce myself.

"Hello there," I warmly greeted. "I'm Desmond Clue. This is my friend David Stonebreaker."

"..." She didn't say anything at first.

"Um...we just thought we'd get to meet you," I continued, reaching for her hood. "Do you mind if y-OOF!" I quickly crumpled to the floor, for the girl had swiftly punched me in the stomach, forcing me to grip my torso in agony. In that single punch, all the air was knocked out of my lungs. Surprisingly, she knelt down to me in visible concern.

"Did I hit you too hard?" She softly asked.

"Y-Yeah you did!" I exclaimed. "Why did you punch me?"

"Sorry...it was a knee jerk reaction," She responded, helping me stand. "The name's Cheyenne Reston. But everyone I've met growing up calls me Street; and I am the Ultimate Street Fighter."

"That explains a lot," David commented.

Street told us how she had grown up in a firehouse after a...well, she didn't tell us exactly why she lived there. Originally she lived on, well, the streets of Chicago before finding herself that home. She made ends meet by learning from her surroundings and taking on all comers in underground fight clubbing. Street fought all challengers without fail.

After taking off her hood, Street said, "Just because I might look like a thug, doesn't mean I have the heart of one. But seriously. Don't reach for me like that again."

"Sorry about that…" I apologized.

When David and I walked away, the next Ultimate we met had a bit of a smile on his face from what he witnessed. At 19 years old, he stood five foot eleven and weighed 155 pounds, with light brown hair under an American flag ball cap, tanned skin, and dirt brown eyes. He had on a plain white tank top, light brown cargo pants, and similar colored work boots.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you to touch someone you've never met?" The man asked. "Especially if they're a woman?

"Hey, I've never been in a fight before," I defended. "And that was first time someone's ever punched me…"

"Oh, okay. Sorry, I just didn't know," The man chuckled.

"Do I LOOK like the kind of guy that gets in fights all the time?" I responded, admittedly a bit dramatically.

"Calm down Desmond," David advised. "David Stonebreaker. You?"

"Robert Eagler. I'm the Ultimate Truck Driver," The man introduced.

From what he was telling us, Robert is a man of the road, going with his dad on his delivery runs during his childhood. He learned everything about the business from him, taking up the reins when he was old enough to drive. Neither rain, snow, sand, or highway robbers stopped him from doing his job.

"Woah...that's pretty cool!" I smiled.

"I know, right? Just stick with me, Desmond," Robert smirked. "We'll wisen you up just yet."

I decided to move on with David to the next member of this group, who was doodling something on a piece of construction paper. At 15 years old, she was the youngest and smallest member of this group standing at a mere 4 foot 9 and weighing 115 pounds, with blonde hair done back in a single ponytail, fair skin, and dazzling blue eyes. She had on a light blue denim jacket over a white camisole with a couple splotches of multiple colors on it, a light yellow skirt that reached down past her knees, and pink sneakers, also with color splotches on them.

"What'cha drawing there?" I asked her.

The girl looked up at us from her seat. "I'm making fashion," She said. "See? It's a dress."

David and I looked at what the girl was drawing - despite being a rough draft of what the finished product would be, we could clearly see that it would become a beautiful dress.

"Pretty good," David said.

"Yeah, that's really pretty!" I added with a smile. "So...are you an ultimate drawer or something?"

The girl shook her head with a smile. "Nope! I'm Brooke Culling, and I'm the Ultimate Clothing Designer!"

Based on the story Brooke gave us, Brooke found her association with fashion when one day she accidentally painted on her mom's white sundress, and it was then her artistic talent was found. While her ideas were 'unique', she was ahead of the fashion world by not being afraid to do things most would never think of.

"I never would have imagined someone so young would have such an eye for art," David added.

"Mhm!" Brooke beamed at us. "I could make you a cool suit if you want me to, mister!"

"...That might not be so bad," David said after pausing for a moment. "David Stonebreaker, and this is Desmond Clue. Nice to meet you, Brooke."

"It's nice to meet you two," Brooke responded. "Let's be good friends!"

"We'll hang out after we meet everyone else Brooke," I promised.

Our next Ultimate that we met up with was in the center of the Commons, and he held some sort of book in his hands, muttering something. He stood five foot nine and weighed 145 pounds, with light black hair, fair skin, and gentle brown eyes. He had on a white and blue checkered flannel shirt, dark brown corduroy pants, and similar colored loafers. He had on a silver ring on his right hand with a small cross.

"Um...excuse us?" I spoke to him. "What are you doing?"

The young man stopped, turning to David and I. "Oh, sorry. I was offering up a prayer to the Lord for our safety."

"The Lord?" I asked.

"Religion," David explained, looking to the man. "If I had to guess, you're a practitioner of Christianity, right?"

"Why yes," The man answered. "Michael Faye. Ultimate Youth Pastor."

Michael was another guy I've heard about on the news. From what he's told us, he never missed a church service in his life. He made national news when he was asked to lead a pilgrimage from coast to coast that had 700 of America's youth walking with him. No idea why, but it was pretty impressive.

"That's pretty cool…" I breathed. "Anyway, I'm Desmond Clue, and this is David Stonebreaker. Sorry for not knowing about that. I've never been to church in my life."

"It's fine Desmond," Michael responded. "I'm aware that religion isn't for everyone; and that's perfectly fine."

"Maybe you could tell me more about it later," I suggested.

"Sure thing," Michael agreed. "I won't bore you to death with every single detail, so no need to worry about that."

The next Ultimate that David and I had the pleasure to meet was looking up towards the walls, which for some reason had the windows blocked by metal plates. At 17 years old, she stood five foot five and weighed 140 pounds. She had long black hair tied back in twin ponytails, light brown skin, and sapphire blue eyes. She wore a dark purple equestrian jacket over a tan woolen longsleeve shirt, black breeches, and similar colored riding boots with golden buckles. On her hands are a pair of snow white gloves.

"Oh, ¿qué hice para merecer esto?" She murmured in a language that was foreign to me.

"Did you say something?" I asked.

"Yeah, just wondering what I did to get put in this situation," The girl responded. "You don't speak Spanish, do you?"

"I went through classes for that in high school...but I don't remember much," I confided.

"I see...well, it's nice to meet you boys," She smiled. "Me llamo Chelsea Inez, and I am the Ultimate Equestrian Racer."

Chelsea was with her racehorse, a black haired stallion named Esperanza, since both were very little. It was that strong bond that enabled her to claim 1st place in multiple equestrian events, earning her the nickname 'La Calaberra de la Noche', which she told me meant 'The Dark Knight' in Spanish.

"The only way I know what that name has significance wise is through Batman," I confided.

"Oh, me too," Chelsea responded. "So who are you?"

"Desmond Clue, the Ultimate Baritone. This is David Stonebreaker...but he never told me his title," I said.

"I...don't recall what my title is," David admitted.

"Ah...is it amnesia?" I guessed.

"For all we know, it very well could be," Chelsea agreed. "Don't worry about it, David. I won't force you to try and remember."

"Thank you, Chelsea," David responded. "We ought to get introduced to the others."

"Very well then. Hasta luego." Chelsea waved us off to go meet the rest.

The next guy was kicking a wadded up ball of paper up and down two rows of cafeteria tables, looking occupied with that. He stood five foot seven and weighed 135 pounds. He had sandy brown hair, pale skin, and light blue eyes, wearing a red soccer jersey, white shorts with a red stripe running down both sides, and white and blue tennis shoes. He stopped kicking the ball and looked at us as we approached.

"Oh, top of the morning to you gents," He greeted. "Care to take a little time to play with me?"

"Not at the moment," David politely declined. "We're taking the time to meet everyone. David Stonebreaker. This is Desmond Clue."

"Thomas Scott," The man greeted, shaking hands with David. "I play football."

"You don't look like a football player to me," I pointed out. "I'd expect someone...taller, and bigger."

"No, I'm not- oh...okay. Sorry, almost forgot you were an American," Thomas said. "You call it soccer, but to me it's football. And, since this school is an American institution, I'm the Ultimate Soccer Player."

Thomas hails from across the pond, and he played soccer with his neighborhood's kids after school everyday, showing off his impressive skills on the pitch. He was given the chance to show the world his talent by winning the World Cup on the UK team.

"Wow...that's awesome, Thomas!" I exclaimed.

"Thank you, Desmond," Thomas chuckled. "Of course, I had the rest of the team to help me out, but I was the MVP in that tournament." He went back to kicking the ball. "Go meet the others, and I'll keep looking for someone to play with."

And so we set off to do that, with our next Ultimate we met with being a real bundle of energy, in an athletic way too. Standing five foot six and weighing 130 pounds, the next lady had medium length wavy chocolate brown hair, fair skin, and bright blue eyes. She had on a cheerleader's dress colored blue and gold with a pair of black compression shorts underneath, and white and gold tennis shoes. On her fingernails were cherry red nail polish. Seeing us, she pretended to hold pom-poms and started a cheer to David and I.

"Gimme a W!" She exclaimed.

"W!" I exclaimed back, playing along.

"Gimme an H!" She continued.

"H!"

"Gimme an O!"

"O!"

"Are you?" She finished, hands on her hips with a confident smile.

"Desmond Clue, the Ultimate Baritone," I greeted with a similar disposition.

"David Stonebreaker," David introduced in his cool as a cucumber mood. "You?"

The lady turned and took a running start, doing several cartwheels, jumping up in the air on the fifth cartwheel and doing a somersault before striking a pose. Everyone gave her a round of applause for this.

"Madelyn Starr, the Ultimate Cheerleader!" She greeted. "But call me Maddie."

Maddie got her start in her cheerleading career at a rather young age. She had a passion for dance and was further motivated by her parents' passion to be on top. Her leadership abilities and love for the sport got her national recognition and fame.

"Hey, that's pretty good!" I complimented. "You've sure got the stamina to be a cheerleader."

"Yup!" Maddie giggled. "It's why I'm the best of the rest."

"Well, I think we've got...two more people to introduce ourselves to," I said.

The last man we met with was 19 years old, and he was looking around the room, surveying the commons. He stood five foot eleven and weighed 155 pounds. He had short black hair, fair skin, and emerald green eyes. He wore a gray quarter-zip jacket over a white tank top, black track pants, and similar colored boots.

"Hello there," I greeted. "I'm Desmond Clue, and this is David Stonebreaker."

"I saw you get hit earlier," The man gruffly said. "You sure you okay?"

"Uh...yeah. I'm fine now," I told him. "...Did everyone see that?"

"Unfortunately it seems that way," David informed me.

The man chuckled. "I don't expect someone who looks like you to have been in many fights before. Anyway, I'm Jonathan Phoenix. I'm the Ultimate Firefighter."

Jonathan had his first experience with fire when he was five years old, when he put out a stove fire in his neighbor's apartment, mainly because he wanted to do something nice for them. Later in life around the age of 18, a fire caused by faulty pyrotechnics at a concert hall led him to take control to evacuate everyone and led the fire's containment. There were injuries, but no deaths.

"Dude...you've gotta have some big balls to do that kind of stuff," I was amazed at Jonathan's accomplishments.

Jonathan smirked. "Yeah, it's a really dangerous job...but at the same time it's so rewarding, you know?"

"Saving lives is always a rewarding experience," David mused in agreement. "It's an honor to meet you, Jonathan."

"If you two ever see smoke or whatever, just run and find me," Jonathan added. "I'll take care of it."

The last girl we met was playing with her hair innocently, sitting at one of the tables with a set of dice in front of her. At 17 years old, she stood five foot five and weighed 125 pounds, and had medium length pale blonde hair dyed a light blue, fair skin, and sky blue eyes behind a pair of bronze box-framed glasses. She had on a forest green v-neck, a denim skirt with white over the knee socks, and black tennis shoes with white stripes.

"Hey there," I waved. She looked to us.

"This all kinda feels like fantasy stories, doesn't it?" The girl mused. "We all woke up in this strange place, but it's not a jail cell or a tavern. I quite like this fresh feeling."

"Uh...okay then?" I blinked.

"David Stonebreaker," David introduced. "This is Desmond Clue."

"I am Felicity Blackwell, and I am the Ultimate Dungeon Master...of Dungeons and Dragons. I don't own an actual dungeon with prisoners and torture devices," Felicity introduced.

Felicity is credited with creating an award winning D&D campaign that was praised for its innovative design and bold plot twists. Everyone who had the pleasure of her being their DM came back with positive reviews. And we sure were able to tell why that was the case.

"Well, that's everyone…" David thought aloud. He pulled out a chair and stood on it, calling to everyone. "Can I have everyone's attention real quick?"

The others in the room congregated around the table that David, Felicity, and I were at. Stepping down from the chair, David began the conversation.

"So, just to ask for the sake of confirmation...Desmond told me when I found him that he received a letter saying he was accepted at Hope's Peak Academy. Did you all get similar letters?"

Everyone all responded with a yes one at a time.

"What does it mean?" Olivia wondered.

"Well, we don't know where we are, how we got here, or how long we've been here," Ronnie deduced.

"Ah, I see…" Maxwell realized.

"What? What?" Chase demanded. "Did you figure something out?"

"Yeah, if what Ronnie's deducing is right, and if it's connected to these letters of acceptance David was telling us about, then I think we're in Hope's Peak Academy," Maxwell continued.

"Wait a minute, if we're here at Hope's Peak...how come all the windows are covered?" Chelsea wondered.

"Hey...David?" I asked. "Did you notice anything about the doors as you were looking for me?"

"There's only one way out of here, and that's the front doors in the foyer. However, they're locked up tight. Not to mention, there were 'defenses' there to prevent anyone from getting in or out," David explained.

"So...you mean to tell us we don't have any way out?" Robert wondered.

"Unfortunately seems to be the case." David folded his arms.

"But why would anyone want to trap us in here?" Maddie then asked. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Puhuhuhuhuhuhu!" A high pitched voice rang out, causing all of us to look around rapidly for the source of the voice. "It makes perfect sense!"

"Who's there!?" Chase bellowed. "Show yourself now!"

At the far end of the Commons, there was a stage where a strange...thing showed up. It looked like a stuffed teddy bear, with one half being white and the other black, with the eye on the black side looking red and jagged. It stood up, causing all of us to jump.

"Who...what the bloody hell are you!?" Thomas exclaimed.

"Well, if you must know, my name's Monokuma!" The bear introduced himself. "I'm the proud headmaster here at Hope's Peak Academy."

"Uh...hello there," Michael responded in a surprised tone of voice.

"And we're trapped here why?" Felicity wondered.

"You're not trapped here, I'm keeping you all safe from the outside world," Monokuma defended. "What with all the crime, political strife, and all those nasty jaywalkers as well!"

"It's not like the world ended or anything...right?" Jonathan then spoke.

"Upupupu...oh, if only you knew, buddy," Monokuma giggled. "But...if you do want to leave, I have a proposition for all of you!"

"Is this something porn related? Because I have one restraining order against someone for making that kind of advance towards me," Melissa inquired.

"Oh don't worry, I'm not gonna ask you to strip naked," Monokuma assured. "I'll give you two choices. You can all either live here for the rest of your lives...or you can attempt to graduate!"

"...I'm almost afraid to ask what you mean by 'graduation'..." I said. But I was too curious to what this bear meant by 'graduation'. "How exactly does someone 'graduate', Monokuma?"

"As I said, you have two choices - either live here till the day you die...or escape by murdering one of your classmates," Monokuma explained with bone-chilling seriousness.

The entire mood in the room went to one of fear and uncertainty. We had all just met each other...and now this was the only way out?

"...Come again?" I couldn't believe my ears.

"You heard me, we're doing things Battle Royale up in here!" Monokuma responded. "Or Hunger Games if you prefer, you freaking weirdo."

"You honestly expect us to murder our classm-" Maxwell spoke up, but was cut off by the bear.

"I'm just gonna cut you off there with a yes! Come on, you're Americans!" He looked at Thomas. "...And one British guy, but whatever. Murder comes naturally to you bastards, so I don't have to do anything but sit back and watch!"

While everyone of us were processing what Monokuma was saying, one of us raised our hands to ask him something else.

"U-Um...Mr. Monokuma?" Brooke spoke up.

"Huh? What is it?" Monokuma asked.

"...What's 'murder'?" Was Brooke's question.

"..." Monokuma was silent for a good long moment, before actually facepalming. "...Seriously? You've _NEVER_ heard of murder? What the hell have they been teaching you in school!? Have you never seen the news before, you simpleton?"

"Not...really…" Brooke confided, looking down at her feet.

"Well, if you must know, I'll give you the short version," Monokuma began explaining. "To murder is to willingly end the life of another person by any means necessary."

"That sounds horrible!" Brooke exclaimed.

"Upupu...kyahahahaha! Like I care!" Monokuma laughed. "Either way, those are your options! No Option C to pick that'll result in you all living, because I'm not the developers of GTA!"

"Hey, I can't speak for everyone here, but I'm positive that none of us would ever do that!" I exclaimed, pointing at Monokuma. "There's gotta be a way out of here without killing!"

"Oh, is that so?" Monokuma's jagged eye lit up momentarily. "You don't know these people, do you? You don't know what they're thinking - someone here might already be planning to murder one of you to escape. Who knows what they're motives are? I sure as hell don't care! But those are your only two options! Either live here for the rest of your days, or kill to escape! I'm not gonna stand here all day and repeat that for you!"

I let my arm lower at that. He had a point. I just met these guys - I didn't know who would be likely to kill me at all. A feeling of paranoia came over me as the reality of the situation sank in.

We were trapped.

Before he left, Monokuma tossed some sort of device to all of us. "Oh yeah, before I go, here's a little housewarming gift for all of you - these are your ElectroIDs. They're vital to school life, and kind of expensive, so don't go losing them! With that, let the Indianapolis Killing Game...begin!" With that, Monokuma left, leaving all of us to let paranoia and the fear of being killed sink in for all of us in silence.

 **Prologue: A Horrible Night to Have a Curse (END)**

 **Survivors: 16/16**

(And with that, this game begins. It only took me like, 3,000 years to put this all together, lawl. So yeah, these 16 individuals are all stuck in this academic prison, with the only way out being to kill someone? But there's no way this group of bright and promising young adults would do that...or would they?

This is my first time writing a killing game fic like this, so any advice you may have would be greatly appreciated.

Chapter 1's Daily Life will come whenever I get to it. Bye for now!)


	2. Chapter 1 Daily Life Part 1

(So...yeah. This is a thing I'm doing. Glad that the reception so far is positive. Promise I'll deliver with a nice spin on the DR formula. You'll notice those twists on the formula when they pop up.

Also as a fun little challenge - see if you can name all of the references I make in this story. Think of them as the hidden Monokumas!

The Reviews

Nan The Keyblade Master: I did make Brooke the most precious thing, didn't I? Also cake sounds good right now.

JudaiKitsune: One chapter in and that innocence was already ruined. Must be a new record for me.)

 **Chapter 1: School of Hard Knocks (Daily Life)**

This was out life now...either stay inside the walls of Hope's Peak Academy...or kill someone. Those were our only two options. We were all quiet, so quiet you could hear a pin drop...until someone broke the silence.

"Hey…" Maxwell spoke up. "Are we seriously going to stand around here and do nothing?"

"Well unless you have any better ideas, Maxwell," Felicity said.

"What else does this school have? Did you find anything else out, David?" Maxwell asked.

"Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot available to us at the moment," David confided. "I've noticed that there were four walls that block off access to other areas of the school - one was pink with a heart icon, one was green with a club icon, one was yellow with a diamond icon, and one was blue with a spade icon."

"I see...so can we call those the Heart Area, Club Area, Diamond Area, and Spade Area?" Brooke suggested.

"For the time being, yes," Street agreed. "Then I suppose we can call the area we're in the Central Area."

"Then that is our mission," Chase suddenly interjected. "We are to search the Central Area at once! Supplies, exits, all of that - we will all report back here with our findings! Dismissed!"

And with that, people decided to head off in various directions, searching the Central Area for any sort of clues on how to escape. Brooke was tugging on my arm.

"Can I go with you, Desey?" She pleaded.

"Desey?" I wondered, raising an eyebrow.

"It's likely how she refers to people," David told me. "The '-ey' is likely a suffix she adds on at the end to people she likes."

"Yup!" Brooke chirped. "You said you'd hang out with me after you met the others."

"We did agree to that," David mentioned. "Alright Brooke. But don't stray too far from us."

"Okay Davey!" Brooke agreed. With that, we decided to go to the closest area to the Commons - there was a pair of doors that led in to a kitchen, which was fully stocked with all the foods you could imagine. It was like walking in a grocery store. Inside was Chase and Maddie.

"We've found our food supplies - awesome!" Chase exclaimed.

"Least we're not going to starve to death," Maddie remarked. "Although...I have to wonder. Is this all we're gonna get?"

"Guess we'll have to ration this all," David said. "I trust you can handle that, Chase?"

"There won't be any need for that!" Monokuma suddenly appeared in the room, taking all of us by surprise. Brooke hid behind me, almost as an instinct.

"What do you mean by that, Monokuma?" I asked.

"This kitchen gets restocked every day," Monokuma explained. "Just so you punk ass kids don't decide to pig out one day and there's only crumbs left over."

"Okay...I suppose that's good to know," Maddie added.

"Yup! Oh yeah, you should also look at your ElectroIDs when you get the chance," Monokuma mentioned. "Those babies have all the rules and regulations to make sure your school life here goes over well. Bye-a-nora, bitches!" With that, Monokuma vanished.

"Yeah, we never really looked at those…" I realized. I got my ElectroID ready. "Want me to read them off?" The other four in the kitchen nodded in agreement, so I powered my ElectroID on. When I powered it on, the message 'Welcome, Desmond Clue' was seen on the screen. Looking through the screen, I found the section titled 'Rules', and tapped on that.

"What's it say, Desey?" Brooke asked me.

"Let's see here…" I started reading off the rules one by one, and they read as such.

Rule 1: Students may reside only within the school. Leaving campus is an unacceptable use of time.

Rule 2: 'Nighttime' is from 10pm to 7am. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution.

Rule 3: Sleeping anywhere other than the dormitory will be seen as sleeping in class and punished accordingly.

Rule 4: With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore Hope's Peak Academy Indianapolis at your discretion.

Rule 5: Violence against headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras.

Rule 6: Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered.

Rule 7: Rules may be added or modified if needed, but will not be removed.

"That would explain the security cameras…" Maddie noted, looking up at one of the ceiling corners, noting a circular shaped security camera.

"I don't wanna kill…" Brooke pouted, folding her arms. "Why did we have to get stuck in this place?"

"Don't worry about it Brooke," I tried to reassure. "We'll get through this together." David, Brooke, and myself all decided to move on to another area close to The Commons. There was a door that, when we looked in the windows that weren't blocked off by metal plates, seemingly the only windows that had this trait, led in to what looked like the main office for the school. Of course, when I tried the door, it was locked.

David noted the heart icon and pink color on the door. "Guess this room is part of the Heart Area," He wagered. "I wonder how we'll be able to unlock it."

"Other than getting a key, Captain Obvious?" I responded.

"We'll get it for sure," Brooke spoke. "Let's keep looking around." And so we kept look around.

We came across this set of double doors, with a sign above it reading 'Dorms'. Guess this was where we were going to lay our heads down for the nights. When we entered, we found Robert, Felicity, Michael, and Olivia.

"You know something?" Michael said to me as we entered.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It seems like the guys were intentionally meant to have the rooms on the left side of the hall, and the girls were meant to have the rooms on the right side," Michael explained. "But there are nine guys, and seven girls…" He gestured to the room closest to the entrance to the dorm area. Each door had a nameplate on it that had our full names, and some sort of sprite character above each name.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that the nameplate on that room was David's. And whose room was right next door to mine? Melissa's.

"...David, you lucky sonuvagun…" I muttered.

"What's the matter? Jealous?" Robert chuckled.

"Wha- no I'm not!" I exclaimed. "I'm just saying that David is lucky for-"

"Don't be upset, Desey." Brooke was tugging at my arm. "Take a look - our rooms are across the hall from each other."

I did take a look at the order of the rooms. On the guys side, from who was closest to the door to farthest, was Maxwell, Robert, Ronnie, me, Chase, Thomas, Michael, and Jonathan. And for the girls side, there was David, Melissa, Chelsea, Brooke, Maddie, Olivia, Street, and Felicity.

"There's another thing I'd like to point out," Olivia added. "Monokuma showed up earlier and told us something about 'getting more taxpayer money than he deserves', and we have these state of the art 'bio locks' or something."

"Bio locks?" I wondered.

"Experimental technology far as I'm concerned," Olivia explained. "But the basic explanation is that the door will only open for the owner of the room."

"There are doorbells too," Felicity added. "I tested this out with the others - we can confirm that they can only be heard from inside the rooms."

"Oh yeah, there are doorbells," I noticed, seeing small white buttons to the right of each door. I then noticed who my 'neighbors' were - the guy who was barking at me like a drill sergeant, and the guy who looked like Ron Burgundy.

"Think I should go look inside my room?" I asked.

"I was about to do the same thing," David agreed.

"I'll go with you, Desey!" Brooke exclaimed.

"Actually, could you wait with Michael?" I requested. "I think this is something I should do myself." Brooke gave a nod, going over to chat with Michael.

I looked down at the bio lock on my door, noting it glowed blue just like all the other locks. Watching David put his thumb on the scanner, it flashed green, allowing him entry. I did the same thing, having the same thing happen to me. The door shut behind me after I went inside.

When I went inside my room, it was pretty basic. There was a bed with a blue comforter and white sheets, tan carpet, a desk with a waste bin next to it, and a bathroom for me to use. On the desk however, there was a small gift box with my name on it. I wasn't really surprised to see that it was from Monokuma. What could he possibly give me that I wouldn't have much use for?

Ripping off the wrapping paper, I found a toolkit and a sewing kit inside, along with a note. I never saw myself much as a builder, and I didn't know the first thing about sewing. Maybe Brooke would know more? Whatever.

I decided to check out the note first. It read: "To Whom It May Concern, we've decided to provide you all with a small gift to help ease you into your new lives here in Hope's Peak Academy Indianapolis. A sewing kit, and a toolkit. The sewing kit includes a map of the body's vital organs. One stab will do the job! As for the toolkit, we believe a strong blow to the head with any of those tools should suffice. Instead of having any of this exclusive to either gender, this is America, the land of the free where you can be whatever you wish, so we decided to give everyone equal opportunity. Plus, I get more taxpayer money than I deserve, so we can totally afford this!"

I immediately crumpled up the note and threw it across the room. The nerve of Monokuma to suggest we use these as murder weapons! No one here would think of murder...right?

Staying optimistic, I put both the sewing kit and toolkit in my desk, slamming the drawer I placed them in, and walking out of my room.

"Something bothering you, Desmond?" Felicity asked.

"Yes, something's bothering me!" I exclaimed. "There's no way I'm going to use that 'gift' for murder!"

"Wait, what?" Brooke sounded confused. When I explained the situation to her, Brooke ran over and gave me a hug. "I'm not gonna use those for murder either, Desey. I'd rather use my talents for good!"

"Agreed. Jesus was the son of a craftsman, not a killer," Michael added. "And I am not going to be a killer."

"But what if someone targeted you, Michael?" Felicity suddenly spoke up. "What would you do then?"

"..." The pastor was quiet at first before responding, thinking about his answer. "Well, if that were to happen, I would go for help and turn the other cheek afterwards."

"I see. Forgive me for asking," Felicity apologized. "I was merely curious."

"It's because of your dungeon master instincts, right?" Robert asked, to which Felicity nodded.

"Played Call of Cthulhu before; it was a blast," Felicity answered. "I learned that I need to be prepared for anything that a dungeon master may throw at you."

"That makes sense. And who would be better prepared for a dungeon master than a fellow dungeon master?" Olivia mused.

"Exactly!" Felicity giggled. "You gotta be prepared for anything when playing D&D."

"While she does have a point, and I can't speak for anyone, this is only assuming someone is planning to murder," David spoke up.

Brooke tugged on my arm again. "Can we go somewhere else now?" She begged me.

"Mind if I go with you?" Michael requested. "All this talk about murder is making me uncomfortable."

"Sure thing," I agreed. We decided to leave David, Felicity, Olivia, and Robert to their debate as we left the dormitory area.

And in my opinion, it was a good thing too. The next place we went to was another set of double doors, but led us into an auditorium that seated about two hundred. Seeing a stage made me smile, both inside and out. The other people there were Ronnie, Chelsea, Street, and Jonathan.

"Ah, Desmond!" Jonathan greeted. "What do you think?"

"...It's beautiful," My eyes felt like they were sparkling.

"You'd sleep here if you could were it not for the regulations, si?" Chelsea giggled.

"Yeah…" I looked away with a smile, blushing slightly from embarrassment. Yes, I was in my element here. Of course I was excited. Sue me.

"So you guys read the regulations too?" Michael wondered.

"Of course we did," Street answered.

"It's a vital part of investigating all the ins and outs of this school," Ronnie chimed. "And I want to get to the bottom of Monokuma's goals for this."

"It was my suggestion we read them before Chase darted off to do his investigation," Jonathan clarified.

"So Ronnie, what else is there in this auditorium, or is this it?" I asked Ronnie, wanting to know.

"Well, if you must know, in this right here auditorium there is a backstage area of course," Ronnie explained. "To the right of the stage is a dressing room, complete with a shower for both boys and girls, along with a costume room inside. And to the left is a prop storage area. There's a door that leads out to a hallway, but all it leads back to is The Commons. Whatever is behind that pink wall must be part of the Heart Area."

"I see...we'll go take a look. Thanks for that Ronnie," I thanked.

"If you need any more investigating, you've got my number," Ronnie grinned.

'We don't have phones…' I thought to myself, going to check out the dressing rooms first. Inside there were a couple mirrors, small 'stations' that people could use for makeup, or hair, or whatever they needed to complete their looks. There was also the doors to the showers - one door had a blue triangle sign on it with 'Men' in white letters, and the other had a pink circle sign on it with 'Women' in white letters. There was a scanner like device on the sides of the doors, which I checked the one on the men's shower. Swiping my ElectroID in front of it, the scanner lit up the color green, meaning the door became unlocked.

I then decided to check out the costume room next - it was a small room that was like a walk-in closet, packed to the brim with other clothes, ranging from casual to more formal and exotic, and accessories like feather boas, large stetson hats, and other assorted jewelry.

"Nice, nice," I mused, leaving the dressing room.

I met up with Brooke and Michael in the prop room - a lot of it was still in its boxes, with some reading 'This Side Up' and 'Fragile', but there was one noticeable detail. There was a disco ball hanging from the ceiling, but the room itself felt kinda small height wise.

"Hey Michael? How big would you wager this room is?" I asked.

"If I had to take a guess...I'd say 30 feet wide and 15 feet tall?" Michael guessed. "It's still pretty big."

"Guess that's all there is to check out…" I said. "Well, there is that academic hallway where I woke up. Should we go check that out?"

"Nah, let's just go back to the others," Brooke decided, already walking out and heading back to The Commons.

Once everyone was there, Chase began. "Report in! What did you all find?"

"Chase and I found the kitchen," Maddie said. "Monokuma said the kitchen restocks every day, so we won't have to worry about going hungry."

"There was an administrations office, but it must be part of the Heart Area," David added. "So we won't be able to fully investigate that."

"We found the dorms," Robert reported. "Guys get one side, and girls plus David get the other side."

"It's because there's nine guys and seven girls, right?" Ronnie guessed.

"Yeah, pretty much," Olivia answered.

"Well, we found an auditorium," Street reported. "Which Desmond really liked."

"I'm attracted to the stage like a moth to the flame," I responded with a rhyme.

"...Never try rapping." Street looked down from that.

"A-Anyway...there was a prop room with everything still being in its boxes," Michael added.

"There was also a costume room with all sorts of clothes," Ronnie added. "So I guess we won't have to worry about running out of clean clothes."

"I...decided to check out the entrance hall," Thomas reported. "David was right - locked up tight it was."

"So, we really are trapped here…" Maxwell added. "Did anyone else find another way out?"

"Afraid not, amigo," Chelsea replied.

"As long as none of us give in to Monokuma's game, we'll all be fine," I tried to reassure the group. "Because I for one am not going to give up!"

We all agreed to that, then there was announcement over the intercom.

"Testing testing, one two despair...upupupu! It works! Attention students, it is now 10 pm, so nighttime has begun. Sleep tight, and don't let the bedbugs bite," Monokuma's voice was heard.

"How about we all have breakfast tomorrow morning?" Maxwell suggested. "I think if we're not going to give in to Monokuma's paws, we need to have a strong sense of teamwork, right?"

"Damn right," Robert agreed. "So...see you all tomorrow?" Everyone nodded in agreement as we all shuffled for the dorms to call it a night.

When I got back to my room, there was a set of red and black plaid pajamas, both a nightshirt and pajama bottoms on my bed. Feeling the fabric, I was surprised at the luxury of them.

"Is this...silk?" I was surprised. "Wow…" It was strange how the bear who wanted us to murder one another was treating us like this. Restocked food, luxurious pajamas, a safe bed to sleep in? It's like we were cattle, and he was fattening us up for the slaughter…

 _The next morning…_

It was our second day at the academy. At 7 am, the intercom turned on.

"Goooooooood morning, everyone! It's time for another spectacular day!" Monokuma's voice rang out.

I was stirred from my slumber with his loud voice, getting up out of bed. I notice my clothes were neatly folded and washed on my desk, which I found unusual. Who washed my clothes? Nothing seemed wrong with them, so I got dressed and headed out to The Commons to meet the others.

Like Maxwell suggested, everyone was there enjoying breakfast, so I went inside the kitchen to grab myself some food. I sat down at a table where David, Ronnie, and Thomas.

"Ello, Desmond," Thomas greeted. "You sleep well at all last night?"

"Yeah, once my head hit that pillow, I was out like a light," I said.

"Think that was the case for a lot of us," Ronnie stated. "Yesterday was pretty crazy."

"And our current situation is crazy too," David added. "We're still in this hostage situation…"

"Hostage situation?" I sounded confused. "Are you...implying someone might come save us? How do you know someone will come to rescue us?"

"...I just know," David reassured.

"O...kay then…" I sweatdropped.

"What the hell, are you a psychic or something?" Robert asked. "Is that your title?"

"It's like I told Chelsea when I first met her," David defended. "I simply don't remember what my talent was."

"This might be another mystery I need to get to the bottom of! Alright David. I'll help you remember your Ultimate talent!" Ronnie boasted.

"Yeah uh...I'm gonna hit the eject button on this conversation." I grabbed my plate of scrambled eggs and pancakes and went to another table. I went back for seconds because...I was really hungry, trying to take my mind off the whole situation.

About an hour later, everyone went off to do their own things. I guess maybe I should be spending some time with the others. And I knew exactly who I wanted to hang out with. Mainly because I wanted an explanation for why I would ever need a sewing kit.

I found Brooke in the costume room, checking out all the various articles of clothing.

"Hi Desey!" Brooke greeted me. "Have you seen all these awesome designs? I think some of these are mine."

"Hello to you too, Brooke," I responded with a smile. It seemed that being around a friendly face like mine, or being in a room where she felt in her element, made her feel secure despite our situation. "I thought I could spend some time with you."

"Oh sure. We can try on all these cool outfits if you want," Brooke chirped, to which I agreed with a positive demeanor.

I spent most of the morning with Brooke trying on various clothes from the costume room, with the two of us taking turns in trying things on. Of course, we went in to the showers to get changed.

Once we were back in our normal clothes, I decided to ask Brooke what I wanted to know about. "Hey Brooke...those sewing kits Monokuma gave us."

"What about them?" Brooke asked, her mood souring somewhat when Monokuma's name was mentioned.

"Well, I'm obviously not going to use them for murder," I quickly defended. "But what kind of practical use would I ever have for sewing?"

"Oh, so that's why you're asking me," Brooke realized. "Well, you're a stage performer, right? Those costumes you wear on stage must be super important, so what if your sleeve rips, or your pants split? That's when you'd need to know when to mend clothes."

"You're right...it would be pretty bad if I showed up on stage in a tattered shirt or ripped pants," I agreed. "Can't believe I never thought of that."

"If I had some material, I could make you a nice costume for performing," Brooke said. "If there was an art class maybe."

"Here's hoping, Brooke," I agreed. Brooke seemed to be a bit more wise about things like this than she appeared...but even then, she's still a kid who didn't know what murder was. Unfortunately, Monokuma had to ruin that.

Once the morning was gone, it was around noontime so I decided to head back to The Commons. Once I got my food, I decided to sit down at a table with Michael.

"Afternoon Desmond," Michael said to me. "Are you here for your explanation on Christianity?"

"Yeah, before I forgot," I responded with a nod. "Guess the two of us can talk about that over lunch?"

"Sure thing," Michael agreed, taking a bite of his grilled cheese sandwich.

I spent the lunchtime hour with Michael as he gave me the nutshell version of Christianity, and also had a little bit of a discussion about our own world beliefs.

"That's so interesting…" I said, biting in to the slice of sausage pizza I got from the kitchen.

"Sure is," Michael replied. "You'd be pretty good in my service's choir with your singing skills."

"Speaking of your service...I've kinda heard some 'not so flattering' things," I brought up. "But you're not like that from what I can tell."

"...No, I am not like 'those people', Desmond," Michael frowned. "I am not those people who forces the teachings of God down the throats of others, nor am I one of those people who is completely overzealous about it." He looked around before leaning in. "To be honest with you, I don't always follow the Bible word for word."

"You don't?" I blinked.

"Everyone has their own interpretations on how the world works," Michael explained. "When we don't have all of the concrete facts, our minds tend to fill those blanks with either educated guesses or things that sound 'right' to us. I do believe there was a higher power that made the world, but I also believe that maybe the Big Bang had a hand in it. We just don't know the full story." He paused, finishing his sandwich. "I think by looking at both religious texts and the science that gives us all these great technologies and life saving medicines, we'll be able to see the truth of the matter on how the world was created."

"That makes sense," I agreed. "So, look at things from both sides, and you'll see the truth? Is that what you're saying?"

"It's what I tell the kids that I meet every Sunday," Michael answered. "I wouldn't want to have it any other way. Except...I don't know if I'll ever get to see them again."

"As long as we stick together, I'm sure you will Michael," I told him, finishing my own food. "Great talking with you, by the way."

"Pleasure's mine," Michael smiled.

I feel like I was able to get a better understanding of where Michael's mind is from that conversation.

Not having anything better to do this afternoon, I decided to head back to my room to think about that costume Brooke was going to make for me. Maybe she'd make it custom for me. While I laid down on my bed and thought about that, I almost didn't notice the doorbell ringing. When I went to go answer it, Felicity was there.

"Oh, hey Felicity." I waved.

"Ah, Desmond. Just the man I wanted to see," Felicity beamed. "May I come in?"

"Sure thing. Why not?" I agreed. Felicity walked in, pulling the chair at my desk out and taking a seat as I sat back down on my bed. "What'd you want to talk about."

"...How much do you trust David?" Felicity asked me. That question took me completely off-guard by how sudden it came.

(Ooh, looks like Felicity has got some news to tell us! But that'll have to wait for part 2 of Daily Life. I would've had this chapter up and have it be a little longer, but by the time I finished it, it was around 1:20 in the morning, and I needed sleep. Distractions popped up more than DPS mains crying and bitching for their healer. Ah well, live and learn. Bye for now!

Special thanks to Nan the Keyblade Master and ShadowYoshi442 for helping me on religious accuracy.)


	3. Chapter 1 Daily Life Part 2

(Cliffhangers are always fun, aren't they? Time to find out what Felicity meant by what she said. Also I think maybe I might have a problem with how I try to keep things short and to the point - probably how I'm structuring each chapter. Any suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated.

The Reviews

ShadowYoshi442: It's not just Brooke who didn't deserve this, but everyone else who is trapped in here.

Nan the Keyblade Master: Well I mean, Monokuma is kinda like Chris McLean levels of shitlord, just one step further. Seriously, go back over the stuff Chris pulled in Total Drama (or ask someone about it) and tell me he doesn't seem like a killing game host.)

"What do you mean 'How much do I trust David'?" I quickly asked in confusion.

"David's been telling people how he doesn't remember his title," Felicity began explaining. "He did that when he, myself, Robert, and Olivia were debating yesterday. He was really dismissive of any questions pertaining to his past. Seems pretty suspect, don't you think?"

"Well yeah, he hasn't told anyone his title," I said in response. "But...why do you think him hiding his title is suspect?"

"He's withholding information from us, so who knows? He could be plotting to escape the Academy," Felicity suggested.

"Hey, I can't speak for everyone here, but I'm confident in saying that David's not going to kill anyone," I defended. Felicity pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"Oh Desmond...you're so naive," She said. "Don't you know anything about the world around you? Or is your Wisdom stat that terrible?" I wasn't sure whether or not to take that as an insult or not, but Felicity continued. "Look Desmond, we might all give the impression of standup good people, but you never know what anyone is truly planning. You can't get inside their heads and telepathically know what they're thinking. At the end of the day, you always need to look over your shoulder, have a sense of awareness."

"Okay...and you're telling me all this why? For all I know, you could be planning something," I pointed out.

"...Touche. You're more perceptive than you look." Felicity stood up. "I'll see myself out now." With that, she left my room. Once she did, I tried to think about what she was telling me, wondering what the point of all that was.

"...Not trusting David? But, he's been so nice to me…" I said to myself. But Felicity did have a point - David never told me his title, so I can't say for sure whether or not she was making all that up. I'd have to ask him later about that, and see if it really is amnesia. Although...I am a choir singer, after all. Not a doctor.

It wasn't close to Nighttime yet, so I had plenty of time to spend with the others. I went to the Academic Wing to see Olivia there, doing stretches as usual.

"Oh, hey Desmond," She greeted. "Want to help me warmup?"

"You running in the halls?" I asked.

"Well it's not like there's a gym open to us," Olivia reminded. "Besides, it's not gonna be that long."

"Sure thing," I agreed.

I spent some time with Olivia doing sprints up and down the hall in the Academic Wing. The rumors were not lying about her at all - Olivia has amazing agility.

"Wow, you've got some pretty great endurance," She complimented me.

"Thanks," I responded. "You've gotta have good stamina to make it through multiple shows in a day."

"There's something I wanted to ask you about," Olivia suddenly said. "Since you're so musically inclined."

"What is it?" I wondered.

"Have you heard 'This is America' by Childish Gambino?" Olivia asked me.

"I think so, yeah. What about it?" I answered.

Olivia looked annoyed. "To me personally, I think it sucks," She explained. "What's complaining about how things look in this country gonna solve? Not a damn thing, if you ask me. Yes, things do look bad, but that doesn't mean we should just sit on our asses, whine, bitch, and give up. What we ought to do is use the hand we're dealt at birth to the best of our ability. It's what I managed to do after growing up in a low income neighborhood. I have full confidence everyone else can do the same."

"Oh...I can see that," I responded. "At least you try to remain optimistic."

"You won't see me giving in to despair so easily, man," Olivia's calm demeanor soon returned. "And I'm praying you won't either."

Olivia can be quite outspoken at times...at least she's optimistic.

I wandered to the Auditorium to see if anyone was there. In the dressing room, I found Street using one of the mirrors to do some sort of training technique before she paused upon seeing me enter.

"Hey Street," I greeted. "What are you up to?"

"I'm shadow boxing," Street answered.

"Shadow boxing? Doesn't that, like...involve your shadow?" I blinked.

Street paused for a good long moment before responding to me. "...Were you dropped on your head as a child?"

"Well, mom did say I had a few close calls but- hey!" It took me a moment to realize she meant that in a negative way. She merely chuckled.

"Just kidding. I could show you how if you want," Street offered. "It's not that difficult. All you have to do is maintain your distance from the mirror."

And so I spent time with Street shadow boxing in the dressing room. It was mainly me doing this with Street watching, occasionally giving me pointers on what to do.

Once I was done, I took a seat and Street began talking again. "Hmm…"

"Well...how did I do?" I asked, wiping sweat off my brow.

"You do have potential Desmond...but you clearly lack any sort of form in fighting," Street answered. "Unsurprising, since you haven't been in a fight before. I overheard your little conversation with Robert in the Commons yesterday."

"Yeah, I've never been in a fight before...that'd explain it," I said.

"Not every discipline has to be for fighting you know," Street told me. "Some people use them as a means of stress relief and fitness. It's what some of the guys and gals at my firehouse did in their downtime."

"Their job was that stressful, I imagine," I guessed.

"You have no idea...the bell could go off at any time, even in the dead of night," Street explained. "Since I was too young to go on any call, before I went to bed I was given noise cancelling headphones so I could get a quality night's sleep. I've slept through plenty of calls because of them - my 'adoptive family' didn't want me getting hurt."

"Hey, Street? Do you have any other fighting advice for me?" I asked.

Street said nothing at first, before throwing a quick punch that came close to hitting me, causing me to recoil back. Street chuckled again.

"Don't take your eyes off your opponent. A punch you don't see coming hurts a lot worse than one you do." With that, she took her leave.

Good to know, I thought to myself.

It was about time for dinner, so I went to the Commons. I had made a pretty big dinner for myself of spaghetti and meatballs with a side of chicken alfredo - since spending time with the two most athletic girls on campus made me really hungry - and I sat down across from Ronnie.

"Ah, Desmond! Just the guy I was looking for!" Ronnie boldly said to me.

"What do you want, Ronnie?" I asked him.

"Just thought I'd have a mock interview with you is all," Ronnie explained. "Get to know you a bit better, yeah?"

"I don't mind," I answered honestly. "Just hope you don't mind me eating during this."

"Not at all, man," Ronnie beamed. "Now, first question: What was your early childhood like?"

I paused for a moment before answering. "Well, I guess you could say I didn't have to worry about if we'd have food to eat or if the lights were on. Dad worked at a steel plant and mom was a part of my county's school board. She made sure I never missed a day unless I was really sick."

"Did you have any hobbies? Any...personal ambitions?" Ronnie continued, digging in to his own steak dinner as he wrote down notes.

"...Yeah, I guess you could say that. I always wanted to get on TV, but I wasn't going to lie, cheat, and steal my way to the top, since a lot of people I watched do just that. Either it was through underhanded things, or really bad things came out of the closet about them," I continued. "Mom told me, 'Desmond, if you want to become famous, don't ever get famous in a bad way.' I lived by those words and just followed my heart to stardom. And now, here I am. Ultimate Baritone. Made it to Broadway."

"So...you don't have any skeletons in the closet? Nothing like those guys on TV?" Ronnie pressed further.

"Not at all, no. All I did was follow my passion to be on stage. I don't know why but I feel like whenever I'm on the stage, I feel like I belong. Of course, some jerks started to take advantage of this, trying to get me to do...stupid things," I answered.

"Like what?" Ronnie sounded interested.

"Like...strip teasing. They wanted me to strip tease," I bluntly answered. "This guy offered me three hundred bucks to do it at one of my school concerts. I didn't take the money, I didn't do what he wanted, and I got shoved in a locker as a result."

Ronnie nearly choked on his steak when I said that. "That...that's crazy…" He breathed.

"No one heard from me until the end of the day at school after that," I added. "I was so hungry…"

"Anything else these jerkoffs tried to make you do?" Ronnie asked.

"Let's just say a lot of it would've gotten me in trouble," I kept it brief. "But I never did any of it, so I kept clean on my rise to stardom. I never let it get me down, or let me stop doing what I loved."

"Well Desmond, out of everyone I've had an interview with, I think you're the most goody two-shoes celebrity I've ever met," Ronnie concluded. "Not that it's a bad thing…"

"You sure make it sound like it though," I pointed out. "Wanted an interesting story? Melissa would probably give you a better one with her books."

"I was gonna go talk to her next actually," Ronnie said, finishing his dinner. "I'll leave you to it, Desmond." With that, he took his things and left. Before he did I had one question for him.

"Hey Ronnie! Where'd you and Melissa get those notebooks?"

Ronnie stopped as he called back, "They're in our desks!"

Thanks for the tip, Ronnie. I went back for seconds and by the time I was done, a familiar voice came over the intercom.

"Attention students, it is now 10 pm, so nighttime has begun. Sleep tight, and don't let the bedbugs bite," Monokuma's voice rang out.

Rubbing my belly, I remembered I needed to talk with David, so I went to the Dorms and rang his doorbell. He came to the door a moment later.

"Desmond. What do you want?" He asked.

"Hey, I wanted to talk with you about something that happened earlier today," I answered. "Can I come in?"

"By all means," David agreed. When I went inside, his room was the same as mine, so I assume all the guy's rooms are the same. David was already in his pajamas when I visited him, and he quickly shut the door after I entered. We both sat down on the bed.

"So, Felicity came to me earlier today and told me something about you," I opened up with that.

"...And just what did she tell you?" David asked after hesitating for a moment.

"Well, she asked how much I trusted you, and said how you were dismissive about your title," I explained, telling him the exact conversation from what I remembered.

"You know something Desmond, I've been waiting for someone I could trust, and out of everyone here, I think you're the most trustworthy," David began. "First of all, that amnesia thing about my title? It was a little lie I had to cook up."

"Really? Then...what's your real title?" I wondered.

"My real title...is the Ultimate Medical Examiner," David replied. "I trust you know why I had to keep you all in the dark."

"Uh...because that would really help us?" I guessed.

"Correct," David stated. "If any potential killers got it in their mind to go after someone, I would be targeted due to how useful my title is in any sort of situation that Monokuma is hoping for."

"Oh yeah, that's right," I realized. "But wait, how did you get your title?"

"That's because I'm a member of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department," David continued with his answers. "My father is the chief of police."

I was metaphorically floored by this revelation. "Your father is the chief of police!?" I paused, thinking someone heard us. "Uh...sorry…"

"Don't be," David reassured. "The walls are soundproof. Found that out earlier with Robert, Olivia, and Felicity."

"Oh...that's good," I sighed with relief.

"I did get accepted into this academy like the rest of you," David continued. "However, due to my responsibilities as assistant coroner in the IMPD due to age, I opted to take online courses. Then one day I was contacted by an unknown individual who claimed to have my father and several high ranking members hostage. Either I come here quietly or they all die."

"And you...decided to come here," I frowned.

David said nothing, slowly removing his pajama top to reveal something on his left arm. It was faint, but on his left bicep there was a scar. "I took a bullet for my father when I went with him on a homicide investigation two years ago." Putting his pajama top back on, he added, "In this line of work, you have to put others before yourself. And mark my words when I say this...I _will_ get my father back from this person, no matter what it takes."

"Wow…" I was really impressed. "This just makes me trust you more, David."

"And even if you were to try and kill me, I have this very long and intricate plan to make sure I implicate you as the murderer by leaving behind a carefully detailed account of your actions if I suspected you to try and do foul play, wound you to leave evidence behind, and to further do that also scratch and claw as much as I can to force you to leave clues behind," David said, folding his arms.

"Yeah, but...couldn't I just prepare for this?" I asked.

"You do realize I could be bullshitting you, right?" David pointed out. "That, and I have a Plan B that I will not mention to you at al."

"Right…" That didn't cross my mind at all when I opened my mouth.

"Hey Desmond, you're honest to a fault, you know that?" David smiled. "Don't ever change that about you."

"Thanks," I smiled back. "So uh...before I go, can I use your bathroom real quick?" My foot was jiggling like crazy.

"Go for it," He agreed. "Don't slam the door on your way out. I'm going to get some sleep." David got under the covers and closed his eyes, leaving me to use his bathroom before leaving. Out of respect, I didn't slam his door shut, instead going to gently shut it instead.

With that, I went to my room and got changed into my pajamas, going to bed myself. I drifted off to sleep, David's words buzzing around in my mind like angry hornets. This mastermind was a pretty dastardly person if they hold family members hostage to force people to play. I hoped that my parents were safe and sound…

 _The next morning…_

Day 3 of our new school life had come as soon as Day 2 left us, as I woke up bright and early at the sound of Monokuma's voice.

"Goooooooood morning, everyone! It's time for another spectacular day!" His voice rang out.

Getting dressed quickly, I went out to the Commons for breakfast. It seemed like most everyone had decided to sleep in today, with the only ones up being Chase, Olivia, David, and myself.

"Ah, good morning Clue!" Chase greeted.

"Do you soldiers refer to yourselves by last names?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Why yes, we do," Chase answered. "Sorry about that, force of habit."

"So is most everyone sleeping in this morning?" I wondered.

"Seems to be the case," David answered. "Least we get a head start."

"Yeah," I agreed, going to grab a plate of pancakes, which is what David had.

"I'm going to go for a bit of a run if anyone wants to join me," Olivia said.

"I'll go with you, Jones!" Chase adamantly agreed. Before we could stop them, Chase and Olivia were already off.

"Now that they're gone, what are you thinking?" David asked me once I got back with breakfast.

"Honestly, I don't know. Everyone seems to be getting along just fine," I said. "Brooke's a real sweetheart, Michael is a chill guy, Olivia is pretty wise...Street taught me a thing or two about fighting and Ronnie is…"

"Ronnie?" David finished.

"Kind of an ego case, yes," I agreed. "But he's okay, I guess."

"I will agree with you on the part of Olivia being wise, though," David agreed. "My debate with her was quite something else."

We had finished our breakfast quickly, and just as we were about to put our dishes away, we heard a loud and clear voice.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS!?"

I perked up immediately. "That sounded like...Olivia!" My hearing gave me the cool power to distinguish whose voice is whose. Pretty neat, I know. But enough about that. David and I ran to the auditorium doors, where Olivia stood outside in horror.

"What happened? And where's Chase?" David quickly questioned.

"He's inside, along with...with…" Olivia stammered. From the open auditorium doors, we saw Chase was inside...and something else on stage. From where I stood, and the fact the spotlights were on, what I saw bored itself in my mind, probably forever.

Laying facedown on the stage with the back of her head bloodied, was Felicity, She wasn't moving, so that could only mean one thing…

Felicity Blackwell, the Ultimate Dungeon Master...was gone.

I probably let out the loudest scream I ever had in my entire life. So loud in fact I felt light-headed.

 **Chapter 1: School of Hard Knocks (Daily Life) END**

 **Survivors: 15/16**

(And with that, the first body has hit the floor! Who killed Felicity Blackwell, and why would they do such a heinous thing? Find out, whenever I get Deadly Life up.

Also when it comes to FTEs - who would you guys like to see more of? Please let me know in the reviews. Bye for now!)


	4. Chapter 1 Deadly Life

(First body of many has hit the floor. In this chapter, we're going to investigate into the death of Felicity Blackwell - also if you guys want to play along, feel free to guess in the reviews who the killer is. If you figure it out before Desmond well...congratulations, you're a better homicide investigator than a guy who needs to get a clue.

The Reviews

ShadowYoshi442: You'll get your answers about what she's like eventually. By the end of Chapter 1 you'll get a picture of what she's like, promise.

Nan The Keyblade Master: I know, those damn orcs...why do they always have to be Chaotic Evil? So annoying...also, gruesome death for the blackened? You got it! Wouldn't be a killing game without brutal and ironic executions! Unless it's a Battle Royale game i.e.: PUBG.

Beninja2618: Lemme count...there's Olivia, Maddie, Thomas, Chelsea, and Street if you count fighting in the streets as a sport. As for why Felicity, it'll become apparent eventually.)

 **Chapter 1: School of Hard Knocks (Deadly Life)**

I didn't want to believe it, but the reality of this situation gripped me fully upon seeing Felicity's body on the stage like that.

Before I could even say anything else, there was a sound playing over the intercom. It sounded like a funeral toll before Monokuma's voice was heard.

"Attention students! A body has been discovered! Please report to the Commons for further information!" He exclaimed before the PA cut off.

"...Well...that didn't take long…" David looked sad at this. I guess all his time looking at corpses didn't make him adjusted to the whole thing.

"How the fuck can you say that!? Felicity's dead!" Chase exclaimed, marching up to us.

"We...we should probably get to the Commons…" I nervously told the other three, with us slowly heading there.

Everyone was gathered up in the Commons, a general sense of fear and confusion among the group.

"Guys!" Maddie waved to us. "So...is it true?"

"..." I was quiet, with Chase delivering the news.

"Felicity...is dead," He said solemnly. The others all looked wide-eyed with fear as the reality sunk in for them too.

"D-Dead!?" Jonathan exclaimed.

"What do you mean Felicey is dead?" Brooke looked to me with tears welling up in her eyes, as if I knew the answers.

"Oh my…" Melissa's skin paled. "I've written about murder before...but never did I imagine I'd have to be investigating one!"

"Oi, we don't know all the details yet!" Thomas sharply reminded.

"Yeah, Monokuma will be here to explain," Chelsea raised her voice. "So if we could all keep calm…"

"Calm? How can we keep calm!?" Maxwell exclaimed.

"Father God, please get us out of this trying time…" Michael prayed.

"As if he'll come and save you, Preacher Boy!" Monokuma's voice was heard, appearing in front of us on the stage in the Commons.

"Monokuma, get your two-tone ass out of here," Olivia growled.

"No way, lady, this is what I've been waiting for! Finally one of you gave in to you primal instincts and committed murder just like I wanted! Ah, this is awesome!" Monokuma laughed. "And just before I was going to reveal I'm not going to give any motives."

"Wait what." I blinked.

"You heard me, Songbird! I'm not giving any motives! You bastards are gonna have to come up with those on your own!" Monokuma laughed. "Just like Felicity's killer did."

"So, Monokuma...now that someone has been killed...does that mean we can leave?" Thomas asked.

Monokuma pause for a long moment before cracking up in laughter. "Ahahahahahahaha! That is the stupidest thing I've heard out of your brain-dead droolies all game so far!"

"What are you getting at?" Ronnie questioned.

"Let's face it, don't you all want justice for your fallen friend? There's a part 2 to this murder game that I forgot to mention intentionally - not only do you have to kill, but you also have to not get caught." Our ElectroIDs began to vibrate as we all saw new rules were being added. "If any of you can't read, I'll be happy to explain what the new rules detail." I checked out the new rules as did everyone else. They read as such.

Rule 7: Once a murder takes place, a class trial will begin shortly thereafter. Participation is mandatory for all surviving students.

Rule 8: If the guilty party is exposed during the class trial, they alone will be executed.

Rule 9: If the guilty party is not exposed, they alone will graduate, and all remaining students will be executed.

"Class Trial?" Robert wondered.

"That's right, Mad Max! Basically I'm gonna send you untrained kids out there to investigate the murder, and once we're all good and ready after some time has passed you all gotta decide who did it," Monokuma explained. "If you find out who offed Felicity, I'll execute the perp!"

"Execute? Are you serious?" I questioned concerned.

"Execution is just that - execution. Whether it be firing squad, lethal injection, pelting someone to death with a million baseballs...a fitting punishment for a murderer!" Monokuma giddily replied.

"A-And...you'll execute us if we get it wrong?" Chelsea stammered.

"Damn skippy, Twintails! So don't mess up!" Monokuma exclaimed.

"Then we can't afford to get it wrong!" Chase exclaimed.

"Easy for you to say," Street quickly said.

"Anyway, since you people are too clueless to perform an autopsy, I took the liberty of doing that for you!" Our ElectroIDs buzzed again as a new tab showed up on them titled 'Monokuma Files'. I tapped on that and a file came up titled 'Monokuma File #1'. Tapping that, I opened it up to see an image of Felicity in gruesome detail.

There were three components to the Monokuma File that I could notice - the first was a picture of the state Felicity's body was in. To the right of that was what looked to be an interactive 3D outline of Felicity's body that had areas of red to highlight damage taken. Obviously, the back of her head was the brightest bit of red on her body. Under that was text that detailed the autopsy report.

"The victim was Felicity Blackwell, the Ultimate Dungeon Master. Time of death is estimated to be 10:30 P.M., and the body was discovered in the auditorium on the stage. The cause of death was massive blunt force trauma to the back of the head, causing death instantaneously. Shrapnel is embedded in the victim's head causing bleeding. The victim also suffered a broken nose." The report read as such.

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Monokuma File #1**

"Monokuma Files will still be in the ElectroIDs if you brats ever feel sentimental enough to look over your friend's corpse again and again," Monokuma added. "Also, that has got to be a new record! It only took you bastards two days to start killing each other! Normally it takes much longer for that. Guess I was right about you guys after all."

It seemed this was the last straw for Michael, who pocketed his ElectroID and stood in front of the rest of us, just a few feet away from Monokuma. "You do not intimidate me, bear."

"Huh? Why are you getting all tough, Pastor Brown?" Monokuma asked.

"I am not going to give in to you at all. Foisting this kind of situation on a God fearing Christian, _and_ those I wish to guard, makes you no better than Satan himself. If I don't make it out of this alive, I'll be waiting for you with the Holy Father, waiting for my chance to send you down to the darkest pit of Hell reserved just for you," Michael sounded really agitated.

Monokuma merely laughed in his face. "I'd like to see you try!"

Michael paused for a moment, regaining his composure before stepping back. "No. Not now. Open minds and kind hearts will triumph over senseless violence and killing. Mark my words."

"Oh sure, you talk all big but you're really a big pussy!" Monokuma taunted. "Come on, show me that power of your pathetic god!"

"...He is judging you," Was Michael's simple response before he went to the auditorium, now with his Bible in hand.

"Ah, what a loser." Monokuma shrugged. "All bark and no bite! Anyway, get to it. I'll make an announcement when it's time for the Class Trial. U-pupupupu-pu-pu!" And with that, Monokuma was gone, leaving all of us to look at each other. Everyone was afraid, except David, who quickly had authority on the situation.

"We're not going to get anything done by standing around and sizing each other up," He said. "Whether or not we want to, there's no other option but to investigate, right? Our own lives are on the line here. We all know the stakes."

"Y-Yeah…" Maxwell stammered. "It's what Felicity would've wanted us to do, right?"

"I agree!" Ronnie exclaimed. "We must find who betrayed our trust without hesitation!"

"So I guess we're really doing this, huh?" Melissa mused, putting on a mask of confidence. I could tell she was nervous. "I'll help however I can."

"Well, what can you do?" Maddie wondered.

"I've written about basically every crime there is," Melissa explained. "Armed robbery, adultery, corporate espionage...you name it, I've written about it."

"Oh, so you could be like a consultant!" Thomas realized. "That's really useful!"

"As expected of the Ultimate Mystery Novelist," Jonathan mused.

"Why thank you, gentlemen," Melissa giggled. "If you ever need my expertise, please don't hesitate to ask."

So while everyone else was raring to go, Brooke folded her arms.

"Brooke? What's wrong?" I asked.

"Don't wanna…" She frowned. "I don't wanna look at it…" I could tell that 'it' meant Felicity's body. I looked to Melissa.

"Hey, Melissa? Could I ask you to watch over Brooke for us?" I requested. "I know you're an author, but could I ask you to be a sitter?"

"Sure thing, Desmond," Melissa agreed, holding her arms out for Brooke, who quickly ran over to give her a big hug. "I'll watch over Brooke and make sure she doesn't have that mean bear get her." Melissa wrapped her arms around Brooke to return the embrace, a warm smile coming to her face. The same could be said for Brooke, who looked happy in Melissa's arms.

While everyone else was headed off to the auditorium, David and I walked together.

"So this is it, huh?" I wondered. "I'll be honest...the only way I know what to do is Rizzoli and Isles."

David literally paused mid stride, looking surprised. "No way," He said. "You watch the show too?"

"Well yeah I do!" I smiled. "Have you seen who plays Rizzoli? What a woman…"

"Get in line man," David smirked. "Guess my title makes me Dr. Isles, huh?"

"Yay, I can be Detective Rizzoli!" I exclaimed. David laughed before regaining his normal stoic disposition.

"We've got a job to do, partner. Let's get to it," He said.

 **Investigation Start!**

We headed back to the auditorium after that, some lighthearted commentary to steel ourselves for the grim reality that awaited us.

Looking at Felicity's body again made my stomach feel like it turned in a knot. We saw Michael standing over Felicity's body, reading something from his Bible.

"Um, Michael? What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Even if she's already dead, I'm giving Felicity her last rites," Michael explained. "It might not be much, but it's the least I can do for those who are unfortunate enough to lose their lives in these trying times."

"Wow...that's so thoughtful of you," I smiled, feeling somewhat at ease. "Now, could we get to investigating?"

Michael nodded, closing his Bible. "May God be your shield, gentlemen."

"Same to you," David remarked. Once Michael walked off, David whispered to me, "Alright Desmond...I'm gonna examine the body and see if the Monokuma File checks out. If I notice anything off, you'll be the first to know."

"Yeah, but...won't people suspect you as a threat?" I whispered back.

"...Do you see anyone else lining up to examine the body?" David deadpanned. I didn't have a response. "That's what I thought."

"Alright. I'll look around for, uh…" I was drawing a blank.

"If something seems off to you, look over it in more detail," David advised. "If you ever get stuck on anything, consult with me or Melissa. We should be able to point you in the right direction."

"Got it. Thanks David." Feeling reassured, I watched as David knelt down to Felicity's body, ElectroID in one hand and his other hand examining Felicity's body in meticulous detail. Guess his title was no joke.

"I can tell you this...I don't see her glasses anywhere," David said. "If she had them on when she was killed, based on the position of her body they'd be crushed under the weight of the murder weapon."

All of the sudden Maddie exclaimed, "Hey guys! I found something!" On the right side of the stage, Maddie had found a pair of glasses that upon inspection looked like Felicity's.

"Are those Felicity's?" Ronnie wondered. "They're busted up."

"This was the work of a murderer!" Chase exclaimed.

"So the killer broke her glasses? Is that what you're guessing?" I spoke up.

"Well, it's not like we've got any other ideas," Olivia said, walking up to the stage.

From the way Maddie was holding Felicity's glasses, I could see that yes, they were broken. But they didn't have any other things on them other than dust - likely from being on the stage floor for so long. So...how did they get broken?

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Felicity's Glasses**

While I thought about that, a voice called to me.

"Yoo-hoo! Desmond!" It was Chelsea, who was looking to get my attention.

"What is it Chelsea?" I asked her. She pointed up to the spotlights.

"Look up there," She said. The spotlights were all on, illuminating the stage. But something stood out to me. One of them seemed to be missing. "For some reason one of the spotlights has gone missing. Seems interesting, si?"

"Yeah, it sure does," I agreed. "I didn't notice that before. Why would one of them be missing?"

Chelsea only offered up a shrug. "If I knew, I'd tell you. If I see anything else, I'll let you know!"

"Thanks Chelsea," I smiled. "You're a big help." As I went to go take a closer look at where the missing spotlight was positioned, I almost tripped over something on the stage. It was the disco ball from the prop room it looked like...but it was smashed. How did it get here?

Looking over the disco ball, it was merely smashed, but against what I didn't know.

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Disco Ball**

Recovering from my near faceplant, I walked over to where the missing spotlight was positioned before...and made an interesting discovery. The missing spotlight was in the position that was above Felicity's body. It looked weird, but if what Chelsea said is true, then it's probably just a coincidence.

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Missing Spotlight's Position**

I didn't notice anything out of place on the stage, and it was at this time that David was done with his investigation of Felicity's body. We stepped off stage to talk about it.

"So what did you find?" I asked in a low voice.

"Well, the Monokuma File matches up perfectly to what I found," David explained. "Also, from the trajectory in which the glass shards are wedged in the victim's skull, I can conclude that the victim had to be laying face down on the ground, and the weapon to strike them from above."

"But wait, wouldn't Felicity have dodged?" I wondered.

"I was getting to that," David continued. "Given the broken nose, which led to Felicity bleeding from her nose, I can conclude that Felicity was knocked out before the fatal blow landed. Very likely from punches."

"You can tell that just by looking at her?" I sounded amazed. "No wonder you have the perception you do." I had to make that last minute word change as Street walked up to us.

"What are you two going on about?" She wondered.

"The investigation, that's what," David coolly replied. "We were just going over what we've found."

"I see...there are other places to look you know. I was just looking in the dressing room," Street said.

"We'll check it out, Street," I quickly responded. I looked to David. "Shall we?"

"Lead the way," He smirked. I kept his words about his findings in mind. Felicity had to be directly under the murder weapon, huh? Good to know...I think.

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: David's Autopsy Results**

So with that, we went inside the dressing room. The first thing we noticed was that both shower rooms were opened up for...some reason. There was also a note on the wall. David looked at the note.

"'I have unlocked all the areas relevant to the investigation in the sake of fairness. I'm the type that hates favoritism and prejudice...well, not as much as I hate you murderous bastards. Have fun! From, Monokuma'." He read. "That was nice of him at least."

Jonathan was also in the dressing room, waving to us. "Hey guys. How's it going?"

"Oh hey Jonathan," I greeted in kind. "Random question, but did you see anything unusual last night?"

"Hmm...no, I didn't see anything weird," Jonathan answered. "Last night I was hanging out with Street. She said she was having trouble going to bed, and was with me till we went to bed. She felt most comfortable around me given our backgrounds with firefighters."

"And when would you say that was?" I continued.

"I would say...a little after 10:30?" Jonathan guessed. "We both went back to our rooms at that time."

"Did you see anyone else during that time?" David questioned.

Jonathan shook his head no. "We were in the Academic Wing, in that social studies classroom. She wanted to go someplace private…" He visibly paused. "...You think she likes me?"

"Maybe...if you two did I could totally see it," I chuckled. "Street's a bit rough around the edges but I can tell she's got a big heart."

"I think I might ask her later," Jonathan mused. "I'll be here if you two need anything." Jonathan gave us some good information. I'll be sure to remember this.

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Jonathan's Testimony**

"I think we should look in the showers first," David wagered. "Hey Jonathan. Have you investigated the showers yet?"

"Yeah, I did," Jonathan answered. "You'll make more headway in the girls' shower. The guys' shower came up negative."

Taking Jonathan's advice, we decided to investigate the girls' shower. It was a small rectangular room with a single shower head and drain, and off to the side there was a towel bar, but the towel was on the floor. The floor was made of ceramic tile, as were the walls. They were pink in color to signify this was for the girls.

I decided to check out the towel, wondering why it was left on the floor. It was then I felt a wet spot. The wet spot felt strange, however.

"Huh...that's weird," I said.

"What's weird?" David asked.

"Look at the wet spot on this towel," I answered, showing David the wet spot. "It's kinda like someone used this just for a small part of them. I mean, if you were going to shower, you'd clean your whole body, right?"

"Good point," David complimented. "So why is there just a small wet spot on it?"

"Maybe whoever used this towel last probably only needed to clean off a small part of them," I wagered. It didn't seem to add up to me at the time, but it felt important.

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Towel Wet Spot**

"See anything in the shower drain?" I then asked David.

"Afraid not," He responded. "The shower does look like it was used, since the water on the floor hasn't completely dried yet."

"That makes sense," I noted.

"There isn't any blood that I can see, so it looks like the killer was certain to be thorough about cleanup," David added.

"Can we be certain that the killer used this shower, though?" I wondered. "You know what they say about assuming."

"Well, think of it this way Desmond," David explained. "Felicity was bleeding from her nose, remember? If the killer struck her, it's likely they got blood on them. Ergo, they needed to wash off; if they tried to go back to their dorm to shower off, they would run the risk of someone seeing them and get caught."

"I see...you think one of the guys would be so bold?" I then asked.

"...It's a possibility, yes," David conceded.

"I don't think there's anything else here that we can investigate," I said. "There isn't anything that looks out of place."

"Shall we move on?" David asked.

"Sure thing." We left the dressing room and started heading towards the prop room when Chase stopped us.

"Stonebreaker! What are you hiding?" His voice boomed.

"I have nothing to hide, sir," David calmly answered, his voice dripping with irony from what I could hear. Fortunately Chase didn't pick up on that.

"Chase, what's gotten into you?" I questioned. "Why are you being so aggressive?"

"Because Felicity warned us about him," Chase spoke. "I was the first one she came to. She asked me how much I trusted David, and told me he likely had something to hide."

"Oh yeah, she came to me too," I remembered. "Did she talk to anyone else about this?"

"In fact, she did," Chase answered. "Other than you and me, she spoke to Chelsea, Street, Robert, and Melissa. We all talked about it for what it could mean."

"That's good to know," I commented.

"I've got my eye on you two." Chase left us with an 'I'm watching you' gesture before going to the dressing room.

"...Well, that was random," I noted.

"But Chase did give us important information," David replied. "Keep that in mind." I gave a nod as we went off to the prop room.

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Chase's Testimony**

Inside the prop room, we noticed there were several things out of place. The first thing was the disco ball missing, and under it was a couple of boxes.

"Well, at least we know the disco ball from here was the same one on stage," I concluded.

"These boxes look like the killer used them to get up to the disco ball," David added.

"True...but why would they go through all the trouble of doing that?" I wondered.

"You can figure it out," David assured me. Yeah, I knew I could figure this out. Maybe the killer wanted to take Felicity by surprise. I could see the disco ball being used as a flail, and Felicity probably wouldn't have seen it coming.

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Prop Room Boxes**

We saw Robert and Maxwell in the prop room as well, and they waved to us. They both look satisfied in each others' company.

"What'd you guys find?" I asked them.

"Well, we found something you might find interesting," Robert began, moving a box on one of the shelves easily, and behind it we saw something we didn't expect to find.

"Is that...a spotlight!?" I looked shocked.

"Yeah, I have no idea why it's back here," Robert replied. "I think maybe one of the spotlights got broken and Monokuma put up a replacement. That's what Maxwell and I think, anyway."

David quickly moved Robert aside so we could examine the spotlight in more detail. It was clearly broken, as the glass of the spotlight was busted beyond repair. Any shards from the spotlight had gone missing, and from what little we could see that remained, there was something on it, but the sample was so small we couldn't make out a clear color. It did seem weird to me. What was it doing here?

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Broken Spotlight**

"You know, the spotlights themselves were pretty interesting," Maxwell spoke up.

"What about them?" I asked.

"Y'see, all the spotlights are actually tied to little notches on the wall, on the right side of the stage - backstage of course. Sturdy ropes hold them in place, so if a spotlight ever needs to be raised or lowered, you just tighten or loosen the knot," Maxwell explained. "There was one thing that was odd - for some reason one of the notches didn't have a rope attached to them."

"Is that so?" David raised an eyebrow. "Interesting…"

"No clue what it could mean, but I thought you two should know," Maxwell added. "Just thought I'd do my part to help catch the killer."

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Maxwell's Testimony**

"Is there anything else you found?" David questioned.

"Oh yeah, there was this one unmarked box that was opened," Maxwell answered, gesturing us to a small box opened up in the corner of the prop room. It looked like a white powder with a tablespoon cup inside.

"What do you think it is?" David asked.

"Honestly...it smells like laundry detergent," Maxwell said. I took a slight whiff.

"He's right. This detergent smells like the kind my mom uses," I said.

"Your mother uses this stuff?" David questioned.

"Yeah, mom said that this detergent is high quality," I explained with a smile. "Mom says this stuff is so strong, it can get any stain out of clothes while also being gentle on fabric!"

"And you get stains in your clothes all the time?" Maxwell asked me.

"Not...necessarily…" I sweatdropped. But for this detergent to be used, who opened it anyway?

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Laundry Detergent**

I decided to speak to Robert about what Chase had told me. "Hey Robert...there's something I need to ask you."

"Sure thing Desmond. What's on your mind?" Robert responded.

"Chase told me something about how you, him, Chelsea, and Melissa all talked about what Felicity was telling us about regarding David," I explained. "Could you tell me what that was all about?"

"Yeah, we had a big powwow in the Commons about it," Robert explained. "It was Melissa's idea, actually. She said something about this being like one of her books and how a common tactic was for her culprits and villains to use someone else as a patsy. We were all somewhat concerned if David was hiding anything...but if you ask me, I got bad vibes from Felicity. Chelsea and I didn't really think you were all that bad, David."

"Thanks for that," David softly smiled.

"Yeah man, Chelsea took that pretty hard what Felicity was saying," Robert added. "I don't know what she said in Spanish, but it sounded like she was a bit stressed out after the meeting."

"Really? Poor Chelsea...this situation must be really hard on her..." I felt sorry for Chelsea. She seemed like such a sweet girl. I had no idea this whole situation was rough on her.

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Robert's Testimony**

"I think that's everything here," I said.

"There is one last place I would like to look at," David told me. "Come on, we don't have much time."

We passed through the Commons where Melissa and Brooke were both drawing and coloring in a notebook I assume belonged to Brooke.

"So how did it go?" Melissa asked us.

"We're making really good progress," I answered. I then remembered something. "Oh shoot, we forgot to check the closet."

"What about the closet, Desey?" Brooke asked me.

"You've been in there more than anyone, right? Mind refreshing me on what was in there?" I requested.

"Well...there was a bunch of clothes, jewelry, gloves, rings, scarves…" Brooke rattled on. "Oh, and hats too!"

"Wait a minute...did you say there were gloves in there?" David then asked.

"I did. There were gloves made of all sorts of fabrics, ranging from cotton to leather. Why?" Brooke asked.

"Hmm...it sounds really important to me," David explained. "Because Felicity had her nose bloodied, it's possible the killer got some on their hands.

"Maybe you're overthinking this," Melissa stated. She covered Brooke's ears, seeing her getting uncomfortable by all this death talk. "I mean, it's possible that Felicity was struck with a weapon that got blood on it."

"By the way, where have you been this whole time?" I questioned.

"Assuming I get out of here in one piece, I was planning on writing a memoir of those who pass away during this trying time," Melissa explained. "What do you guys think about this as a title? 'Trust and Deception: The Story of Hope's Peak Academy Indianapolis'?"

"I like it," I mused.

"That could work," David agreed.

"Anyway...Brooke, thanks for your help," I smiled. "It might not seem like much, but this is a big help."

"You're welcome, Desey!" Brooke cheered.

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Brooke's Testimony**

With that out of the way, I followed David to the dorms, where we saw the bio lock on Felicity's room without a light. David checked the door, which was unlocked.

"Looks like we can enter someone's room when they become deceased," David spoke.

"Well yeah, but why do you want to enter Felicity's room?" I wondered.

"It was Night Time when Felicity was murdered - it's safe to assume that this was her last known location. There ought to be evidence for us to use," David explained.

"That makes sense." I entered Felicity's room after David went inside.

...I never really got to know you Felicity, but now that I know what David was hiding about his talent, why were you trying to warn me about him? I wish I had spent more time with you - you seemed so wise and fun to be around. It's a shame, but I can't rewind time with a stone and get her back so I could have her answer my questions. Even if Robert got bad vibes from you, I sure didn't.

I was lost in thoughts all alone, so much so David had to pinch my arm to get my attention.

"Ow!" I exclaimed. "Stop assaulting my arm!"

"Look at this Desmond." David calmly handed me a crumpled up note. Looking at the note, it was addressed to Felicity. It had the following message.

'There's something I need to follow-up on with you about in private. Can you meet with me in the auditorium in 10 minutes? I'll have the stage lights on so you won't stumble around in the dark.'

"So the killer sent this note to Felicity?" I wondered.

"That seems to be the case," David agreed. "But of course, the note doesn't have the sender's name, which means this likely came from the killer."

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Killer's Note**

We soon heard a bell ring four times.

"Attention students! The investigation period is over! Please report to the kitchen for the Class Trial to begin!" Monokuma's voice rang out.

"The kitchen?" I wondered.

"Monokuma's probably got a surprise planned for us," David wagered. I shrugged my shoulders and followed David to the kitchen, where Monokuma and everyone else was waiting for us outside of this walk-in freezer.

"Ah, Desmond! David! So good of you to join us!" Chelsea greeted.

"Yes, it's good that you're here," Thomas mused. "Now we can get this bloody trial over with."

"I love your enthusiasm, Brit!" Monokuma exclaimed.

"While I would rather be elsewhere...it's not like I have a choice," Michael added, folding his arms.

"Me too!" Brooke exclaimed.

"Too bad, you all have to do this!" Monokuma glared. His right paw had a claw prick out, catching us all by surprise before he used it to unlock the walk-in freezer...which turned out to be an elevator!

"Ooh, an elevator," Olivia mused. "A clever disguise."

"I never would've expected that, and I know a thing or two about secret passages!" Melissa added.

"Everyone get in so we can go down to the courtroom!" Monokuma ordered. We all filed on to the elevator, with me and Chelsea being the last ones in.

"Desmond...I know you're scared for this, we all are," Chelsea said to me. "But hey, as long as you believe in yourself, you can accomplish anything."

"Thanks for that," I quickly thanked before boarding the elevator, the doors closing behind all of us.

Packed in like sardines, the elevator began its long descent into the underground, the slow speed of the elevator making our heart rates speed up.

"How much longer is this elevator gonna take?" Maddie asked.

"Just let it happen," Maxwell responded. "None of us want to be here."

"You can say that again…" Brooke sighed.

Soon the elevator dinged, with the door opening to reveal we were in a circular room with a throne at one end where Monokuma sat - in front of him 16 maple wood podiums where we were to stand. The podium in front of Monokuma had a stand of a picture with Felicity's picture, black and white, with a 20 sided die icon colored red with the '1' side being facing forward. I noticed the courtroom was fashioned after an actual dungeon - stone walls and floors, torches along the wall providing us with light, and some skeletons chained up by their wrists to the walls gave a very unsettling atmosphere.

"Ta-dah! What do you think?" Monokuma asked us.

"It's...something for sure," Chelsea remarked. "Is this made in memory of Felicity?"

"Of course! I want you all to remember this moment when you all decided to murder one of your classmates for whatever reason possessed you! Now go on, find the podium with your name on it.

In order from the podium Felicity had clockwise, the podium order was Robert, Olivia, Chase, Brooke, Thomas, Melissa, David, Street, me, Maxwell, Maddie, Jonathan, Chelsea, Ronnie, and Michael.

Felicity Blackwell...I never really knew her all that well, but I could tell she had a wit as sharp as her tongue, along with being a fun person to hang out with. Her only crime seemed to be warning me and others about 'trusting David', and now…

One of us killed her? I didn't want to believe it. I couldn't see any of us here being killers. But then again, that's the only truth we have to look to, right? We had to face it by the horns whether we liked it or not.

And so the curtains began rising on our first trial...I didn't know much...but I knew this. It was our lives versus their life. Our trust versus their deceit. Our love versus their hatred. There is no turning back now. This Class Trial...was officially on.

(Ooh, the suspense is killing me! Can our class figure out who murdered Felicity, or will the blackened slip through their fingers? Tune in whenever I have Part 1 of the Class Trial up! Leave your guesses for who the Blackened may be, and why. Until then, bye for now!)


	5. Chapter 1 Class Trial Part 1

(It's time everyone, for the main attraction of the killing games - Class Trials!...Well, watching the Mastermind get what they deserve is moreso to me, but I'm not you guys so, eh. For ease of reading, I'm gonna have this go in script format, since most the stories I've read have the Class Trials be in this format. If you have a problem with that, you can get over it. If not, that's all good.

Speaking of which, at the end of each trial, I will give credit to everyone who guessed the killer correctly and how they made their guesses to me. Just to keep track of how you're all doing I'll be putting this on a separate Doc. Maybe I'll be like RoosterTeeth and include a very special prize to whoever or however many of you guess all 6 (Spoiler alert: If I ever write another killing game, I'll let you make one of the Ultimates if you want)!

One last thing, I'm gonna take the Ace Attorney approach with Desmond. As much as I'd like to load relevant bullets into the Truth Cylinder, Desmond is a guy who...well, you'll see his lines of logic. He doesn't need it methinks.

The Reviews

ShadowYoshi442: I seem to have stumped you, haven't I? Don't worry, this trial is gonna come down to guesswork, so it's all good.

Nan The Keyblade Master: I guess it depends on what that meeting talked about, huh? At any rate, if you get this based purely on the behavior of others, I will be legitimately impressed.

Siege25: Speaking of Street, I know it's a lofty dream due to how licensing would be a nightmare in today's day and age, but I hope Def Jam Fight for NY gets rebooted. I love that game.

New Era of G: Never in my life have I laughed so hard at a guess to a motive for murder before. Not what I expected you'd review with, but okay!)

 **Court is now in session!**

 **ALL RISE!**

Monokuma: Now then, let's begin with a simple explanation of the Class Trial! During the Class Trial, you will present your arguments and then vote on whodunnit! If you vote correctly, then only the Blackened will be punished. But if you pick the wrong person...I'll punish everyone besides the Blackened, and that person will earn the right to leave this academy!

Maxwell: I know this might sound like a dumb question...but is the killer really one of us?

Monokuma: Yup yup, that's right! One of you heartless bastards went and killed Felicity, and now here we are. Such a sad state of affairs, isn't it? By the way, this Class Trial is gonna be one hundred percent fair. I'm the type that hates favoritism and prejudice...well, not as much as I hate you, of course!

David: You said as much on the note we found in the dressing room. We got the memo.

Monokuma: Now, let's begin!

Chase: Okay then, let's make this quick. If you are the Blackened, raise your hand!

Maddie: If they wanted to come forward, they'd never have committed a murder in the first place.

Chase: R-Right…

Michael: I wish finding the killer was as easy as 'Forgive me Father, for I have sinned…', but no, we gotta do this instead.

Robert: Everything's going to work out, Michael. For now, we just gotta work together to figure this out.

Jonathan: What he said. So, where do we start?

Melissa: I was with Brooke the entire time - we didn't do any investigating since Brooke was scared to look at Felicity's body. Can we get a initial summary of your findings?

Chelsea: Yeah, let's start with that.

Desmond: _This is it...anything I found, anything I heard, I have to be ready to speak up about anything. Because ultimately, we need to find out who murdered Felicity. If we can't do that...no, thinking about 'if' is a waste. We have to push on, no matter what!_

 **Make Your Argument!**

Chase: Make no mistake about it! The victim was Felicity Blackwell.

Melissa: We ascertained as much from the Monokuma File.

Thomas: And the murder occurred in the auditorium, on the stage to be precise.

Maxwell: So it seems most likely that the murder only occured in the auditorium.

Brooke: Poor Felicey **didn't have a chance to resist…**

Desmond: No, you're wrong!

 **Truth Bullet Used: Felicity's Glasses**

 **Break!**

Desmond: Just a second Brooke. I do think there was an initial struggle.

Brooke: Huh? Why?

Desmond: Felicity had her glasses broken. They were knocked off her face somehow, and that to me is evidence she fought her killer.

Ronnie: That should've been obvious from looking at the crime scene. We shouldn't have to explain it.

Maxwell: There's no need to be condescending about it. She's only 15, of course she didn't know that.

Melissa: Mhm. Poor dear was so scared after Monokuma finished his spiel - like I said, I stayed with Brooke the entire investigation.

Olivia: Someone had to watch her during that time, I suppose.

Brooke: Thank you for that, Meley!

Melissa: Anytime, dear.

Thomas: Okay, so we know there was a struggle. How did Felicity even get killed in the first place?

David: We ought to have that be our next priority.

Street: I don't know how this is supposed to feel like a real trial.

Desmond: _Now to figure out the murder weapon...I think I might know what it is, but at the same time, I'm not entirely sure. Maybe I should approach this from a different angle._

 **Make Your Argument!**

Thomas: Any ideas on what was used to kill her?

Maddie: There was a smashed disco ball on the stage. Maybe **that is the murder weapon?**

Chelsea: How do you use a disco ball as a murder weapon anyway?

Olivia: You could swing it around like a flail.

Robert: Or it could be as simple as throwing it at her.

Desmond: No, you're wrong!

 **Truth Bullet Used: Disco Ball**

 **Break!**

Desmond: Can we be certain that the disco ball is the real murder weapon?

Maddie: Why do you say that, Desmond?

Desmond: Well, I mean...just taking a look at it, I just thought it seemed a bit...clean?

David: He means that there wasn't any blood on it. That's why he thought it was weird.

Street: He's right. Given how that thing was made of glass, smashing it against Felicity would've left blood splattered all over it.

Michael: How did the killer even get the disco ball in the first place? That thing was up 15 feet off the ground at least.

Desmond: _The killer did get the disco ball, and I know how. It's with this bit of evidence…_

 **Truth Bullet Used: Prop Room Boxes**

Desmond: This is it!

Desmond: There was a stack of boxes in the prop room that I believe were used as a stepladder.

Maxwell: Robert and I searched that prop room top to bottom, and there wasn't a ladder in there at all. Therefore, the killer had to make do with the boxes in the prop room to get the disco ball.

Michael: I see...that makes sense.

Robert: It also looked like some of the boxes were moved back, so we can't really figure out how tall the killer is.

Maddie: Okay, so what is this supposed to mean? I think it's still possible for the disco ball to be used as a murder weapon.

Jonathan: Oh? Do tell, Maddie.

Desmond: _Was the disco ball used as a murder weapon? It's likely a red herring, but...I think I should hear Maddie out first._

 **Make Your Argument!**

Maddie: There should be no doubt the killer **got the disco ball** from the prop room.

Olivia: That sounds correct.

David: Additionally, glass shards were embedded into the back of the victim's head.

Maddie: I think after the initial struggle, the killer **smashed the disco ball in the back of her head.** They might have knocked off her glasses that way too.

Desmond: No, you're wrong!

 **Truth Bullet Used: David's Autopsy Results**

 **Break!**

Desmond: Actually Maddie, I don't think that's possible.

Maddie: You better explain yourself, Desmond.

Desmond: I do believe that it was a glass object that killed Felicity, but there was more to it than that. Isn't that right, David?

David: Correct. I gave the body an examination to confirm if the Monokuma File matched up with the status of Felicity's body.

Chelsea: You...examined her body?

Brooke: Eeeeeeeeeeeek! That's super creepy!

David: And 'super' important. Someone had to do it, and I didn't see anyone else volunteering to do it either.

Street: It's fine David. What did you find?

David: I can confirm the Monokuma File matches up with Felicity's external wounds perfectly. From the trajectory of the glass shards in the back of her head and how her body was found, the murder weapon had to be positioned above her.

Ronnie: Anything else you found out?

David: Why yes - I can confirm that Felicity's nose was broken from punches most likely.

Ronnie: That settles it then...the one who murdered Felicity...was you! Street Reston!

Olivia: Street killed Felicity? Why?

Ronnie: It makes perfect sense - out of all of us, she knows how to throw a punch perfectly. Enough to break someone's nose! Plus, using such an unorthodox murder weapon should be no problem to someone with her experience.

Street: News flash, I'm not the killer.

Brooke: Oh, I guess she didn't do it!

Ronnie: How can you believe her so easily!?

Brooke: I'm fifteen. I don't know any better.

Olivia: But, based on what I'm seeing of Street right now, she doesn't look to have been in a fight recently.

Ronnie: I don't care about a technicality like that - Street's the one who killed Felicity!

Desmond: _Did Street kill Felicity? It's true she knows how to throw a punch if my first interaction with her was proof enough...but I dunno. Maybe I should back up Street here...yeah, I should._

 **Make Your Argument!**

Ronnie: Since Street has a background in fighting...she could have **killed Felicity at any time!**

Street: That's not possible.

Thomas: Oi? Why is it not impossible.

Street: Because **I wasn't anywhere near the auditorium last night.** It's as simple as that.

Ronnie: And just what were you doing last night?

Street: As if I'd tell you.

Desmond: I'll be your understudy!

 **Truth Bullet Used: Jonathan's Testimony**

 **Break!**

Desmond: Ronnie, I think that Street is telling the truth here.

Ronnie: Mhm...so a goody-two shoes like you has fallen for a bad girl, is that it?

Desmond: No, it's nothing like that! Jonathan's testimony is Street's alibi!

Ronnie: It is?

Jonathan: That's right. I was telling Desmond and David this when they came to check out the dressing room. Last night, I was hanging out with Street in the Academic Wing until we went to bed.

Street: I was having trouble going to bed last night, and given his background I felt at ease with Jonathan.

Jonathan: Yeah, and we went to bed a little after 10:30.

Michael: 10:30...Felicity was killed at that time!

Desmond: Exactly - since Jonathan was with Street the whole time, there's no possible way she could've had to time to kill Felicity.

Ronnie: Okay...well, how about this? What if Jonathan and Street are in on this together, and are covering for one another?

Jonathan: Are you accusing me of something so awful!?

Robert: Speaking of which, I need to ask Monokuma something. If there is an accomplice, do they become a Blackened as well?

Monokuma: I had a feeling you bastards would ask this eventually, and so I shall answer! Each murderer is allowed to have as many accomplices as they want, since I know how much you guys love lynch mobbing, but only the one who does the killing gets to graduate.

David: So in other words, there's nothing to gain by being an accessory to the crime.

Maxwell: But maybe they didn't know about that?

Monokuma: Ugh, good grief! I'm not going to give you idiots all the handouts in the world! I'm not a politician of yours that promises that! Use your brains and figure it out if you have any!

Street: Then let me spell it out for you. If I were really the killer with Jonathan being around me, I would have to kill him too in order to silence a potential witness.

Chase: That's true! Because with this information, Jonathan would've told us all right here and now!

Melissa: And, well, he's not saying anything about Street doing anything wrong, so I guess that means Street is innocent.

Ronnie: But...but…

Street: Accuse me of being the killer again, and I'll come over there and punch that stupid ferret you call a mustache off your face.

Ronnie: I-I'm sorry! Please don't ruin my good looks! I need to look presentable delivering the news!

Michael: No violence, please. Fighting won't solve anything!

Street:...Tch. You're not even worth the energy, Ronnie.

Desmond: I'm with Michael on this one. Can we please get back on topic?

Michael: Thank you, Desmond. What do we discuss next?

Desmond: _What do we discuss next? I think the answer to this question will affect the direction of this trial drastically...so I'll have to think about this one._

 **Make Your Argument!**

Michael: Does anyone have any suggestions on what to talk about next?

Olivia: Perhaps we talk about **everyone's alibis?**

Maxwell: Or possibly talking about **the crime scene?**

Brooke: Um... **the murder weapon, maybe?**

Ronnie: I say we **talk about potential suspects!**

Michael: Any other suggestions? There are no wrong answers here, far as I'm concerned.

Desmond: I'll be your understudy!

 **Truth Bullet Used: David's Autopsy Results**

 **Break!**

Desmond: Brooke is onto something - I think we should clear up the murder weapon first.

Brooke: I was right? Yay! Thanks Desey!

Michael: What about the murder weapon needs to be cleared up?

Desmond: Well, it's more like I need to ask David something if he could clear up the glass we found in Felicity's head.

David: Sure thing. What do you need?

Desmond: David, we know for a fact that something glass was used to murder Felicity. Could you clear up what kind of glass shards were in her head?

David: Hmm...well, I can't say anything for certain since I didn't have much to compare them to, but I can safely say the glass from the disco ball and the glass found on the victim's body are not one in the same.

Maddie: So the disco ball was a red herring?

Desmond: Seems to be the case if you ask me.

Thomas: If the disco ball ain't the murder weapon, then what is it?

Desmond: Um...I'm not entirely sure.

David: Desmond, I think we need to look at something else right now. We'll come back to the murder weapon later when we have more information.

Desmond: _Yeah, we don't really know much concerning the murder weapon at this moment. So what should I talk about now?_

 _-Alibis_

 _ **-The crime scene**_

 _-Potential suspects_

Desmond: This is it!

Desmond: I think it's better if we take another look at the crime scene. Maybe if we do that, we can find out more about the murder weapon.

Melissa: I agree - let's do that.

Maxwell: I second that notion. Shall we resume, everyone?

 **Make Your Argument!**

Thomas: So what else could have been used on that stage to murder Felicity?

Chase: The only thing that we could see that could have been used was the disco ball.

Chelsea: There really **isn't anything that can be used on there.**

Robert: It's possible that they **got it from the prop room** , don't you think?

Maxwell: We shoulda investigated more in there, Robert…

Desmond: No, you're wrong!

 **Truth Bullet Used: Missing Spotlight Position**

Desmond: Actually Chelsea, there's something that's bothering me...remember when you told me about one of the spotlights missing from the row above the stage since we got here?

Chelsea: ¿Qué? What about it?

Desmond: Well, it's not so much that it's missing, but it's where the spotlight should be that's bothering me. Because the missing spotlight, when put in its proper place, would be above where Felicity's body was.

Ronnie: Wait, what are you suggesting?

Desmond: Well, I just thought it was a coincidence at first, but now that I think about it…

Chase: What? What is it?

Desmond: Is it possible that a spotlight could have been the murder weapon?

Jonathan: Oh really? How do you know that?

 _Desmond: I know that because of what was found in the prop room...that piece of evidence being…_

 **Truth Bullet Used: Broken Spotlight**

Desmond: This is it!

Desmond: Robert found a broken spotlight in the prop room behind some box.

Robert: Well, like I told you Desmond, I thought it was broken and got replaced, so that's why I didn't think much of it.

Melissa: I see...hmm, well, if I've learned anything in my mystery writing career, one coincidence can be dismissed...but multiple coincidences are a pattern.

Maddie: But Robert does have a point, that spotlight could've been replaced.

Brooke: Yeah, if a spotlight was used to kill Felicey, how did the killer use it?

Desmond: _How was the spotlight used to kill Felicity? I have a feeling we're not going to get anywhere if this question isn't answered._

 **Make Your Argument!**

Chelsea: So it's no secret now that a busted spotlight was in the prop room. But where does that get us?

Robert: Melissa brought up a point - two coincidences? We can't ignore that.

Michael: Those spotlights were up really high. **No way anyone could have reached them.**

Brooke: You would think there would be a way on stage…

Desmond: No, you're wrong!

 **Truth Bullet Used: Maxwell's Testimony**

 **Break!**

Desmond: Actually Michael, there is a way someone could reach them. Isn't that right, Maxwell?

Maxwell: Huh? Oh yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about.

Michael: Maxwell found something out about the spotlights?

Desmond: Yeah - he was telling me that all the spotlights are attached to ropes that are tied to these notches on the right side backstage. If you want to lower any of the spotlights, you loosen the rope. If you want to raise any of them, you just have to tighten it.

Maxwell: One of the notches didn't have a rope tied to it, which I didn't know what it meant at first…

Street: Ah, I see…

Brooke: Huh? What is it, Streetey?

Street: If what Maxwell is saying is true, it's entirely possible that this notch missing a rope and the broken spotlight are connected.

Robert: So that substance we saw on the broken spotlight in the prop room…

Street: It would probably explain why there is little to no glass on it, right? I checked that out myself.

David: I guess that answers our questions about the murder weapon, doesn't it Desmond?

Desmond: Yeah, you're right.

Thomas: I'd hate to be the bearer of bad news...but all this talk hasn't gotten us any closer to finding the killer.

Maddie: Yeah, this killer is really sly...I'm afraid we may never find them.

Michael: We'll find them, Maddie. I just know we will.

Maddie: Easy for you to say. What else is there to talk about?

Jonathan: We can't just give up! It'd be a disservice to Felicity!

Desmond: _Jonathan's right...we can't give up just yet. Our necks are on the line...and this show will go on! I won't allow the curtains to close on us so easily!_

 **Trial Suspended**

(Monokuma: Well, things are certainly getting hot in here - some of them are getting fired up!

Flash:...Why are you in my room?

Monokuma: Oh, I just thought you could use the company! You sit on your ass most the day goofing off with your friends!

Flash: And you of all people are criticizing how I live _my_ life?

Monokuma: Oh yeah, and that politician stuff? Yeah, I could totally run a country! Vote for Monokuma!

Flash: Yeah, you could run a country into the ground…oh yeah, and GET OUT OF MY ROOM! *throws Monokuma out the window* Sorry about that everyone, I have no idea how he found out where I lived. Anyway, that's Part 1 of the Class Trial. I hope this was a good enough stopping point, so yeah. Hope you all enjoyed, and stay tuned for the second half of this trial! Bye for now!)


	6. Chapter 1 Class Trial Part 2

(How will the Ultimates narrow down their suspect list? Well, we're gonna find out in Part 2 of this trial! Because we're not even close to being done with this case, no sir.

The Reviews

ShadowYoshi442: And here I was wondering how Street was going to insult Ronnie. Now I know.

Siege25: Yes, Siege. Yes you were. But hey, be glad that Street doesn't have fourth wall awareness. If she did and met you...in the words of Frederick from FE Awakening, "Pick a god and pray!"

Nan The Keyblade Master: Regular reminder that Brooke did nothing to deserve any of this. Also yes, cinnamon roll and the 'token thug' can get along in harmony. Because this is my story, and that stuff happens all the time.)

 **Trial Resume**

Robert: Okay...so what now?

Michael: Does anyone have any questions about the crime? Anything to help us narrow down our suspect list.

Olivia: Oh! As a matter of fact, I do have a question to ask.

Chase: Very well. Ask away.

Olivia: Okay, so if David is right about how Felicity's nose was broken by punches, shouldn't the killer have blood on their hands?

Michael: She does have a point - it's entirely possible that the killer got blood on their hands fighting Felicity.

Thomas: I'd hate to be that guy, but couldn't the killer have washed their hands afterwards?

Street: And put blood on any other surface? I have my doubts. Do you know how hard it is to get blood off of skin?

Ronnie: No, but I bet you do.

Street: I wasn't talking to you, Ferret.

Ronnie: Ferret!?

Desmond: Could you tell us a little more, Street? I think your insight would be helpful.

Street: Thank you, Desmond. As I'm sure everyone here probably knows, blood has the ability to attach to whatever surface it comes into contact with. It's a real hassle, but it's doable.

David: And how do you clean blood off skin?

Street: Hydrogen peroxide. Of course, I haven't seen anywhere in the Central Area where that stuff is located.

Melissa: So if the killer got blood on their skin, they'd be out of luck?

Street: Precisely.

Olivia: So...how exactly was the killer able to hit Felicity but not get any blood on their hands?

Desmond: _Yeah, how did the killer break Felicity's nose, and get blood on their hands without getting blood on their hands? The direction of this trial is probably gonna depend on how we answer this._

 **Make Your Argument!**

Olivia: How was the killer able to break Felicity's nose and not get blood on their hands?

Ronnie: Maybe **they were just lucky?**

Michael: I think Felicity's nose broke **when she hit the stage.**

Maddie: Or perhaps Felicity's blood **dripped down on the stage.**

Melissa: What a pain, I'm just gonna go with what I know...what if they **used gloves?**

Olivia: Ugh, this is a pain in my ass...

Desmond: I'll be your understudy!

 **Truth Bullet Used: Brooke's Testimony**

 **Break!**

Desmond: Melissa's right - the killer used gloves!

Melissa: Hmhmhmhmhm...I had a feeling.

Olivia: Okay, and how exactly did the killer get them?

Desmond: Well, I do know of one place - isn't that right, Brooke?

Brooke: What's right, Desey?

Desmond: You know...you were telling me about what was in the dressing room closet earlier? Melissa was there, so was David.

Brooke: Oh yeah, I remember! There was jewelry, hats, scarves, rings, and gloves!

Olivia: Gloves, you say? I never checked that closet myself…

Michael: So the killer wore gloves, just as Melissa said.

Maddie: Pardon me for asking, but has anyone investigated the dressing room closet? I never checked it out myself, since I didn't think it was important.

Robert: You think the killer dumped the bloody gloves in that closet?

Maddie: That's my guess anyway. I mean, where else would you put them to where they wouldn't be out of place?

Jonathan: I checked it out during the investigation. Nothing seemed out of place to me.

Desmond:...Maybe...maybe the killer was thorough on their cleanup.

David: I can tell we're inching closer and closer to the truth of this...no matter what it is, we're going to get there. I believe it.

 **Make Your Argument!**

Chelsea: So I guess **the killer used gloves from the dressing room closet** , but how does this help?

Chase: It will narrow down the suspect list if we determine where they were cleaned!

Thomas: But where did the killer clean them? **There isn't anywhere in the crime scene for them to do that.**

David: If we put our heads together, we'll figure it out.

Brooke: Yeah, what Davey said!

Desmond: No, you're wrong!

 **Truth Bullet Used: Towel Wet Spot**

 **Break!**

Desmond: There is one place the killer could've cleaned the gloves.

Thomas: And just where might that be, ya bloke?

Desmond: There was a towel in one of the showers that had a wet spot on it. The girls shower.

Jonathan: That does make sense Desmond, but there's a problem with that.

Street: You can't just wash blood out of clothes with simply water. You're not suggesting the killer did that, are you?

Desmond: _No, the killer would've had a harder time washing the blood out of the gloves with just water...they had to use something else too._

 **Truth Bullet Used: Laundry Detergent**

Desmond: This is it!

Desmond: Maxwell found a box of laundry detergent back in the prop room.

Jonathan: Huh? Laundry detergent?

Maxwell: I'm just as confused as you were when I first found that. It was in an unmarked box that was opened a little bit - I thought it looked out of place.

Desmond: That laundry detergent is the same brand my mom uses - what's special about it is that it can get any stain out of clothes while being gentle on fabric.

Michael: I see. The killer used the laundry detergent to help clean up the blood they got on the gloves. Then they used the towel to dry off the gloves, which would explain the wet spot on the towel.

Desmond: Yeah, that's what I mean. If you were going to shower off, normally you'd clean off your entire body, right? The fact that the towel had only a small part of it wet looked unnatural to me, so that's why I believe the killer used them to dry off the gloves.

Ronnie: So how does this help us get closer to the killer?

Desmond: _That's because the towel…_

 _ **-Was in the girls' shower**_

 _-Was the only wet object_

 _-Was on the floor_

Desmond: This is it!

Desmond: It's safe to assume that since the towel was in the girls' shower, the killer is female.

Chase: I see! So one of the girls killed Felicity!

David: That seems to be the case. But there's still a few things we have to clear up before we reach a verdict.

Brooke: Yeah, I didn't hurt Felicey!

Chase: I-I wasn't saying you did…

Ronnie: But maybe the killer went in the girls' shower after Monokuma opened up the shower to dispose of the towel. That makes sense, doesn't it?

Jonathan: Not possible - I checked out both the showers myself. The guys shower floor was completely dry. Only the girls shower floor had water on the floor. Desmond and David can confirm that, right?

David: We sure can. You were there when we investigated the dressing room. You were there when you told us about Street's alibi.

Chase: So we can knock Street off the suspect list…

Maxwell: Okay, how do we narrow the list down further? I doubt someone who didn't know what murder was could be capable of doing it.

Michael: You and me both.

Thomas: Oi, Melissa? What else does a killer need?

Melissa: Hmm...well, we haven't really touched on any possible motives for the murder, so maybe we touch on that.

Desmond: _She's right. We don't know what the killer's motivations were, so maybe if we knew that, we could start knocking more suspects off the list._

 **Make Your Argument!**

Melissa: What kind of motive would anyone have for wanting to kill Felicity?

Chase: **Felicity never really made any enemies** …from what I know anyway.

Chelsea: Yeah, she was a really nice girl too.

David: Are we sure she didn't make any enemies?

Jonathan: There really doesn't seem to be a motive here. **Random target, maybe?**

Olivia: I don't know about that…

Desmond: No, you're wrong!

 **Truth Bullet Used: Killer's Note**

 **Break!**

Desmond: I don't think this was a random killing at all, Jonathan. This was a premeditated attack.

Jonathan: Huh? How so?

Desmond: David and I investigated Felicity's room, and we found this note inside. It read, and I quote 'There's something I need to follow-up on with you about in private. Can you meet with me in the auditorium in 10 minutes? I'll have the stage lights on so you won't stumble around in the dark.'

Robert: I see. So the killer summoned Felicity to the auditorium, and that's when she was killed, right?

David: Based on the content of the note, it's likely the killer met up with Felicity earlier yesterday, and that was their chance to lure Felicity into the auditorium.

Chelsea: Ah…

Chase: What? What is it?

Chelsea: Well, I just realized something about that note. If Felicity was killed at 10:30, then that means the killer left the note at 10:20. That sounds about right, si?

Robert: Oh yeah, that does open up the timeframe for the murder. Or at least narrow it down.

Ronnie: Wouldn't that call Street's alibi in to question?

Street:...What. Did I say.

Ronnie: Uh...but I was just…

Street: What. Did I say. About accusing me of being the killer again?

Ronnie: Agggh! I wasn't accusing you of anything!

Desmond: Hey, Street...before you punch him...there's something else on the note that caught my eye. I think it'll help us narrow things down further.

Street: Mmph...fine. What is it?

Desmond: _The part of the note that is the most interesting, or the sentence that's most interesting I should say...well, that would be…_

 _ **-There's something I need to follow-up on with you about in private.**_

 _-Can you meet with me in the auditorium in 10 minutes?_

 _-I'll have the stage lights on so you won't stumble around in the dark._

Desmond: This is it!

Desmond: It's the first sentence. The killer wrote 'There's something I need to follow-up with you about in private.' Now, what would the killer want to follow-up on with Felicity? If this really was a random killing, there's no reason this sentence should be in the note.

Maxwell: Forgive me for asking Desmond, but what relevance does this have to the case?

Desmond: It's part of the killer's motive, I think. It's what David was saying a moment ago, right?

David: Correct. In short, whoever met up with Felicity on the day in question is a suspect, and whoever didn't is not.

Desmond: _We really need to narrow down who met up with Felicity - it's the only way to know for sure!_

 **Make Your Argument!**

David: So, who met up with Felicity yesterday?

Robert: I know Desmond did, he told me himself.

Street: But the killer is a woman, remember? Desmond couldn't have done it.

Brooke: **I didn't meet up with Felicey!**

Michael: Is there anyone who knows for certain? **There doesn't really seem to be anyone...**

Maddie: I don't know about you, but I'm not the killer.

Michael: Not what I was trying to say…

Desmond: No, you're wrong!

 **Truth Bullet Used: Chase's Testimony**

 **Break!**

Desmond: Actually, there is someone who knows for certain - right Chase?

Chase: That's right, Clue! I met up with Felicity too!

Michael: What was she telling you?

Chase: I had a meeting with Felicity about David's secret, and with us was Chelsea, Street, Robert, and Melissa.

Chelsea: I know how this looks, so allow me to add on to this. Melissa, your background in mystery novel writing would give you all the insight you'd need, si?

Melissa:...What are you saying…?

Chelsea: Lo siento...but you killed Felicity, didn't you?

Melissa: M-Me!? No way!

Jonathan: It would make sense…

Melissa: You've got it all wrong! I didn't kill her! Just because I write about crime doesn't mean I'm a criminal!

Desmond: Melissa, I don't want to believe it either...I trusted you with Brooke the whole time we were investigating. You're even going to write a memoir about all those who lost their lives in this sick and twisted game so they wouldn't be forgotten…

David: But we have to cover all our bases. What would Melissa's motive even be?

Desmond: Well, that would be-

Maxwell: Is...everything alright, Desmond?

Desmond: _I can't believe I'm doing this, but my gut is telling me to do this. The person who lured Felicity to the auditorium, punched her lights out, and then murdered her with a spotlight...the only person I can think of who would do that...is you, and only you!_

 _ **Select Someone!**_

 _-Desmond Clue_

 _-Maxwell Ackermann_

 _-Madelyn 'Maddie' Starr_

 _-Jonathan Phoenix_

 _ **-Chelsea Inez**_

 _-Ronnie Patrick_

 _-Michael Faye_

 _-Felicity Blackwell_

 _-Robert Eagler_

 _-Olivia Jones_

 _-Chase Adams_

 _-Brooke Culling_

 _-Thomas Scott_

 _-Melissa Scarlett_

 _-David Stonebreaker_

 _-Cheyenne 'Street' Reston_

Desmond: The spotlight's on you now.

Desmond: Chelsea...could it have been you?

Chelsea:...W-What are you talking about? I'm not the killer!

Desmond: Of course...that's just my gut feeling, so if you have any objections, please let us know.

Chelsea: Objection or not, why do you think I'm the killer?

Desmond: Like I said, it's just my gut telling me that you did it.

Chelsea: That's it?...You're basing this entire accusation off your gut feeling? Are you sure it isn't because you're a fan of Melissa?

Melissa: It's no secret he's a fan of mine.

Desmond: N-No! I just don't think Melissa is the killer! Because I think she's smart enough not to kill someone and then reveal her knowledge on these kinds of crimes.

Ronnie: But we don't know of any sort of motive Chelsea has - how can we be certain she really did it?

David: I think we should explore this possibility a little more.

Desmond: _David's right...we do need to explore this possibility a little more. And I think I might know of the motive too!_

 **Make Your Argument!**

Chase: Let me reiterate myself...myself, Chelsea, Street, Robert, and Melissa met up with Felicity about David's secret.

Street: We already know I have an alibi for the night of the murder. So don't say anything, Ferret.

Ronnie: I wasn't going to…

Melissa: I already told you Desmond, **I was working on my memoir that night!**

Chelsea: But can anyone confirm this? **You have the strongest reason to murder Felicity,** puta!

Melissa: Hey, no one can confirm if you have an alibi either!

Olivia: Maybe we should just vote now? Majority rules!

Desmond: No, you're wrong!

 **Truth Bullet Used: Robert's Testimony**

 **Break!**

Desmond: Can we really be sure between the two of you, Melissa has the strongest motive to murder?

Chelsea: And what would you know?

Desmond: Well, what if I spoke to someone who could level the playing field, so to speak? Right, Robert?

Robert: Yeah, I was telling you about our meeting. It was Melissa's idea, yes, but Chelsea was the most shaken up out of all of us.

Brooke: Huh? How did you tell that?

Robert: Because...I dunno what she said in Spanish, but it sounded like she took what Felicity was saying the hardest out of everyone.

Chelsea: Ah, but do you know what I was saying in Spanish?

Robert:...Uh...not, really? I'm still learning the language.

Chelsea: Then you can't be certain what I was saying in Spanish. It could've been anything! And you, Desmond! You're basing this all on a 'gut feeling'? Everyone's lives are at stake here! You're willing to throw our lives away for this woman you have a crush on? ¡No hay forma de que puedas ser tan estúpido! Oh wait...you are. So please...reconsider your accusations. For everyone's sake.

Desmond: _...Dammit! I just know Melissa isn't the killer! Did I make the wrong choice? Is she...really…?_

David: Desmond. Right now I need you to take a deep breath, and think over the case one more time. It's very likely the key to solving this mystery is something we're all overlooking here.

Desmond: Y-Yeah…

David: Stay true to your convictions, man. If anyone can solve this case right now, it's you. You have all the pieces of the puzzle you need.

Desmond: _David's right...I have everything I need! I just need to think everything over...one more time…_

Olivia: This ought to be good.

Robert: Oh yeah.

 **Thought Route Start!**

Desmond: _Okay, let's review what we know. We know for a fact that Felicity struggled with her killer prior to her death, and thanks to David we also know Felicity's nose was broken by her killer by punches. So with this fact, we've concluded that…_

 _ **-The killer wore gloves**_

 _-The killer used the towel_

Desmond: _Yeah, the killer used gloves. From there, they probably took them off if the tops of the gloves were bloodied from the impact their punches made, laid them somewhere palms down, and then dropped the spotlight on their head. So it seems most likely the cover-up happened…_

 _-Before the murder_

 _-During the murder_

 _ **-After the murder**_

Desmond: _After the murder; it was the only time the killer logically could've set up anything. From there, the killer went to…_

 _-The dressing room_

 _ **-The prop room**_

Desmond: _The prop room, right. That's where they got the disco ball to plant a red herring. They also hid the real murder weapon - the broken spotlight - back there too. That's where they found the detergent. The killer went to…_

 _ **-The girls' shower**_

 _-The guys' shower_

 _-Their own room_

Desmond: _To the girls' shower. They used their ElectroID to get into the shower, cleaned off the gloves, and then dried them off with the towel - that would explain the wet spot. As for the gloves themselves...we had assumed they came from the dressing room closet, but Jonathan said that there was nothing out of place. ...Agh, think Desmond! There's gotta be some way!...Actually, there is a way. One we never considered. What if the gloves came from somewhere that, when cleaned off, wouldn't be out of place? Then in that case, the only place that makes sense would be…!_

 _-Dressing room closet_

 _ **-On Chelsea's hands**_

 _-In Melissa's trash can_

Desmond: _...Oh my god...that's it! That's where! I've got it now! I know who killed Felicity, no doubt in my mind!_

Chelsea: So Desmond? Have you reconsidered your stance?

Desmond: No...I'll raise your bid. And now, for tonight's feature presentation - the crime from start to finish!

David: Seems like you've got it now. Alright, Desmond. Tell us what you've got.

Desmond: Let's start from the very beginning, specifically when Felicity was speaking to people about David's secret. I didn't go to this meeting, but several others did. Among them, was the killer, who set their plan in motion later that day. The killer wrote a note to Felicity, likely sliding it under her door, at 10:20 last night, 10 minutes before Felicity's time of death. Having turned on the stage lights so Felicity would make her way to them, the killer waited for her to show up.

Street: So far so good…

Desmond: Once on stage, I don't know if any words were exchanged or what beforehand, but the killer struck quickly, punching Felicity to knock off her glasses, and to break her nose. Felicity was completely unconscious from the strikes. From there, the killer quickly went to the right side of the stage after removing their gloves - palms face down, so they wouldn't track any blood on the stage - and then dropped the murder weapon, a spotlight, down on Felicity, killing her.

Olivia: Continue.

Desmond: It was at that time the killer began their cover-up, first going to the prop room to get a red herring murder weapon. The disco ball, which they got to by stacking boxes atop one another as a makeshift ladder. It must have been during that time they found the laundry detergent, allowing them to have a way to clean up even further.

David: Mhm. Keep going.

Desmond: Once the killer made the disco ball their red herring, most likely from bashing it against the stage, they took some laundry detergent and moved on to the next stage of their cover-up, cleaning the gloves. Using their ElectroID, the killer entered the girls' shower and began to get the blood out of the gloves, and once finished, used the towel to dry the gloves off, and for good measure, let the water run a bit longer until all traces of blood and detergent were gone from the shower floor.

Maxwell: Makes sense.

Desmond: It was a bold move on the killer's part, cleaning the gloves instead of hiding them. By doing so, they allowed themselves to hide a key piece of evidence in plain sight from us the whole time.

 **Thought Route Complete!**

Desmond: Just because gloves were used doesn't mean they had to come from the dressing room closet. There was only one other pair of gloves in this whole school the killer used...and those gloves were yours, Chelsea!

Ronnie: SAY WHAAAAAAT!?

Olivia: I second that 'Say whaaaaaaat!?'

Robert: Hahahahaha! This is getting good!

Chelsea: T-There's no way...there's no way I used my gloves for that…

Thomas: Yeah, that's clearly impossible! We would've noticed that if she really did!

Desmond: Impossible...that's what I thought at first. They were in plain sight the whole time, so easily viewed, that we would have never suspected them in the first place. And if Chelsea's gloves went missing, surely we would have noticed it then. We would have asked questions. And if she discarded her gloves for us to find them later...well, it would be the smoking gun we'd need!

Chelsea: N-No! You've got it all wrong! Stop it! Por favor, stop it!

Desmond: Chelsea, I don't want to do this either, but you've left me with no choice. This hurts me just as much as it hurts you.

Michael: But is there any way to know for certain if she cleaned her gloves?

Maxwell: Desmond's mom uses the detergent - if that's the case, Desmond should be able to tell having been around it!

Chelsea: Ngh…

Desmond: Chelsea...if you're not hiding anything...if you're not truly the killer...then hand me your gloves right now, and prove it!

Chelsea:...

Melissa: You heard him. Let's see 'em.

David: Or would you rather confess here are now?

Chelsea:...Lo...lo...Lo siento, todo el mundo…

Street: So….are we done here?

Maddie: Seems to be the case.

 **Trial End**

Monokuma: Wahoo! Now that was an exciting trial! But it seems you've all reached a verdict, so if you could all get out your ElectroIDs, I have added in the Voting tab. All you gotta do is tap on who you think the Blackened is, and your vote is counted! And if you don't vote...you'll get punished too! Who will you pick as the Blackened? Will you pick the right choice? Or will you pick the despairingly wrong choice?

Once the votes were tallied, the lights went out as a large slot machine appeared in the courtroom, with all our faces on the machine. The lever was pulled, as the slots spun rapidly before stopping on Chelsea's faces. Once they came to a complete stop, the word 'GUILTY' was illuminated in bright red lights as confetti and streamers shot out of the machine, celebratory air horns blaring in short bursts. It looked as if we had won something, but at what cost?

"Well, there you have it! The first trial is a win for the spotless! The one who killed Felicity Blackwell...was none other than Chelsea Inez!" Monokuma exclaimed.

Chelsea had tear-stained cheeks as she looked down at the ground, silent at first. All eyes were on her.

"Chelsea...why? Why did you kill Felicity?" I asked.

"It was because of what she was saying about me. Is that it?" David asked.

"Y-Yes…" Chelsea answered. "She was saying all sorts of nasty things...as if she was trying to start drama."

"What exactly was she saying to you guys, anyway?" I then asked.

"That David was planning to kill someone! And we shouldn't trust him because he had amnesia!? I...I wanted to believe in you guys...I wanted to get through this together with you all...but in the end, I decided that something needed to be done...in order to protect you all…"

"...Come again." Ronnie flatly said.

"You were trying to protect us? From Felicity?" Maxwell sounded shocked.

"I knew she gave me bad vibes...but I didn't know you'd go that far," Robert added.

"Right...Robert, what I said that day was 'Tengo que hacer algo para ayudarlos.', which in English translates to 'I have to do something to help them.'" Chelsea explained. "You were right...what Felicity was saying really scared me."

"And so you thought the best way to go about that was murder? You should have told someone!" Chase exclaimed.

"If I did, you all would've panicked, and that might have led to something worse happening. That's why...I had to act on my own," Chelsea continued. "I'm, so sorry everyone…I'm sorry I betrayed your trust in me."

"Hold on, if you really wanted to protect us, then why did you cover up your crime?" Thomas pointed out.

"You say this, yet your actions say another…" Maddie added. "Care to explain?"

"After I dropped that spotlight...I started to panic. I didn't know what would happen to me, so without even thinking, I started to cover up the crime," Chelsea sighed. "My body started moving before my mind could even process what I was doing."

"Yup, that sounds about right for a mentally unstable teen to do," Monokuma chuckled.

"Quiet you!" Brooke shouted at Monokuma.

"Chelsea…" I breathed. "I...I don't know what to say."

Michael opened his Bible and started reading from it, giving Chelsea her last rites from what I gathered. Chelsea reached into her pocket and came back with a small little whistle made of silver.

"Desmond...I want you to have this," She said, handing me the whistle.

"What's this?" I asked.

"I've mentioned to you my prize racehorse, Esperanza, to you before, right?" Chelsea asked.

"Yeah, what about it?" I sounded a little confused.

"This is a very special whistle - no matter where you are in the world, if you blow on this whistle, Esperanza will come running," Chelsea told me. "Please...if you get out of here, take care of her for me. You have kind eyes, Desmond...I know you can."

"Excuse me for asking, but you're willing me your horse!?" I exclaimed in shock.

"It's my last request of you, Desmond...could you at least give me that?" She pleaded with me. Looking at the whistle again, I pocketed it, giving a nod in agreement.

"You can count on me, Chelsea," I promised. "I've never had a pet before but...I'll take good care of Esperanza for you." Pausing, I then asked, "By the way...what does that name mean anyway?"

"In Spanish, it means 'hope', like how I hope for all of you to get along. To not let another murder like this happen again," Chelsea answered.

"But, knowing how you kids gets, it won't take long for us to do this again," Monokuma interjected. "Speaking of which, it's time for the main event!"

"The main event?" Jonathan asked.

"You seriously forgot already? I'm talking about the Blackened here getting executed!" Monokuma exclaimed. "She broke the rules of this academy, and therefore has to be punished accordingly!"

"T-That's really extreme!" Michael raised his voice, having finished giving Chelsea her rites. "Not every murderer has to be given the death penalty!"

"Too bad, that's how we're doing things here!" Monokuma shot back. "Now then, I've prepared a very special punishment for Chelsea Inez, the Ultimate Equestrian Racer."

"Michael, it's fine…" Chelsea wiped the tears away from her eyes, taking a deep breath. "I...I'm willing to die for the rest of you, so that you can live."

"I don't wanna watch this…." Brooke started to cry, running over to me and burying her face in my chest. Instinctively I wrapped my arms around her in a tight hug for security.

"I'm here Brooke. I'll shield your eyes…" I did not want Brooke to witness this execution, for I didn't want the poor girl to get scarred for life anymore than she already was.

"Let's give it everything we've got! Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit's punishment time!" Monokuma exclaimed.

"Goodbye everyone...please, take care of each other! Trust in one another! ¡Nunca te des por vencido con la esperanza para mí!" Chelsea had tears streaming down her face again, but she put on a brave expression for us all, steeled for what was coming her way.

Chelsea looked so brave, willing to lay her life down on the line for all of us...I didn't know if I should feel sorry for her or not. Her methods were extreme to say the least, but here she is now, accepting of her fate. I guess she really cared for us that much. I never got to spend that much time with you Chelsea...but you will be missed.

Monokuma then produced a gavel as a red button rose up in front of him where he was sitting. Hoisting it as high as his arm would allow, Monokuma hit the button as a sprite version of Chelsea appeared on the small screen.

* * *

 **GAME OVER**

 **Chelsea Inez has been found guilty.**

 **Time for the punishment!**

Chelsea stood there in the courtroom, eyes closed and hands clasped together. A wall lowered to have a chain with a metal clamp on the end clasp around her neck, dragging her away at a rapid pace to where her execution would take place. Above this false wall showed a large flat screen TV, revealing that she was seen in a grass field with an equestrian course full of hazards set up along with standard obstacles.

 **Running Roughshod ~ Ultimate Equestrian Racer Chelsea Inez's Execution: Executed**

Chelsea was seated on a black horse with a white mane, sporting Monokuma's red eye as she held onto the reins. Monokuma appeared wearing a cowboy hat, a toy revolver in hand. He aimed the revolver sky high, pulling the trigger as the horse took off at full speed. Chelsea couldn't get the horse to stop as it began jumping over fences which had barbed wire hanging above it to cut and scratch Chelsea, deliberately run through very shallow ditches to give her whiplash and dizzy the equestrian racer, and eventually Monokuma was leading four other similar horses behind, who were kicking up dirt, sharp rocks, and other bits of the ground up at her. Clothes in tattered and face bloodied, they soon reached the end of the course with the horse Chelsea was riding violently toss her off head first. Landing on the ground with a massive thud, she found cables were quickly tied to her wrists and ankles, the other ends of the cables being attached to the horses Monokuma was leading. With another shot of his toy revolver, the horses all let out a robotic whinny, and took off in various directions, causing agonizing pain to Chelsea before her arms and legs were ripped out of their sockets, leaving her there to bleed out as the horses all rode off in the distance. A pair of crows soon flew down, pecking at her dismembered corpse.

 **Chelsea Inez, the Ultimate Equestrian Racer, has been executed.**

* * *

Everyone, save for Brooke who was currently keeping her face close to my chest, watched in horror as this happened. Monokuma soon came back to the courtroom!

"Wahoo! Now that was a high octane execution fitting for a girl like her!" He exclaimed.

"...My god…" Chase breathed, completely shocked.

"That was completely uncalled for!" Jonathan exclaimed.

"That's right - that was fucking appalling!" Olivia shouted. "How could you do such a thing!?"

"I...I think I'm gonna be sick…" Maxwell held a hand over his mouth, looking slightly green from what he just witnessed. He looked like he was about to throw up.

Brooke was inconsolable, crying at what just happened. The rest of us were at a loss for words.

"You already knew the terms when this shindig started!" Monokuma snapped at Olivia. "She murdered one of you, and that's not appalling?"

David visibly shook from what he witnessed before regaining his composure. "I know none of us wanted to do this, but all acts here were wrong in their own ways." He said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The idea of black and white morality...is nothing more than a fairy tale parents tell us at bedtime so we can go to sleep," David elaborated. "Chelsea was wrong to murder Felicity, but she had her reasons for doing so to 'protect' us as she said. We were wrong to sentence her to death, but we didn't have a choice in the matter. And you...Monokuma, were wrong to do...that...but you made the terms very clear to us. That I cannot deny. At the end of the day, whether we like it or not, we're all going to have blood on our hands no matter what we do."

"Well spoken, Mr. Mysterious. Anyway, as a reward for surviving your first Class Trial, I want you all to have this." Monokuma held a pink key with a heart decal on it. "I figured you bastards need a little more wiggle room to plan out your murders. So here it is! The key to the 'Heart Area' as you've called it." He handed it to David. "Make use of these new rooms what you will. Now get on the elevator and get out of here. I've got redecorating to do!" With that, Monokuma left.

With a somber mood, we all boarded the now open elevator to go back to the academy. None of us said a word the entire way, save for Brooke, who was making muffled sobs the whole time.

 **Chapter 1: School of Hard Knocks (END)**

 **Survivors: 14/16**

* * *

 _Meanwhile, in an undisclosed location…_

An individual covered by shadows was seen watching various monitors from a control room, and they looked...agitated, to put it lightly.

"...Graaaaaah! How DARE she do that to my child?" Their voice rang out. "Don't you worry, Felicity...I'll find a way to avenge you." What this person was saying had no context, but it wouldn't matter at the moment.

(Dun dun dunnnnn! What could this mean? I won't tell!

Well, THAT happened! And that is Chapter 1 of the Indianapolis Killing Game! Big shout-out to Nan The Keyblade Master (via review), Beninja2698 (via PM), and New Era of G (via review) for correctly identifying the blackened!

Now that we've got that out of the way, I wanted to make Chelsea a sympathetic murderer, but...I don't know how good of a job I did on that. What do you guys think? Was there sympathy for the murderer? Or is there none to be had?

Also, let me know who you want to see more of in the Free Time Events, because I have no idea who I want to have be in Chapter 2's FTEs. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated. Bye for now!)


	7. Chapter 2 Daily Life Part 1

(That last chapter...was a thing. This next chapter...will also be a thing. I'm gonna ride this wave out to its conclusion and trust me when I say this - it will be worth all of the suffering. It'll just take us...a while to get there.

The Reviews

ShadowYoshi442: Well, now you know. Like Desmond, sometimes you gotta trust your gut.

Siege25: Yeesh...and I thought I had bonkers dreams. Like that one time I imagined Valentine from Skullgirls injected me with red liquid in my junior year US History class.

Nan The Keyblade Master: You were right! And...well, that's DR for you. Come for the cool characters, freak out at the fucked up executions Monokuma cooks up.

Beninja2618: You'll find out in due time, friend. In due time.)

 **Chapter 2: Killer In The Mirror (Daily Life)**

As soon as the doors to the elevator opened up, Brooke released herself from my hug and ran off crying towards the dorms.

"H-Hey! Brooke! Come back!" I exclaimed, going to go after her, but David gripped my shoulder.

"Give her a moment, Desmond," He ordered. "We could all use one after what we went through."

David had a point - Felicity getting killed, sentencing Chelsea to death...and that execution...oh god, that execution.

I also saw Maxwell leaning over a garbage can, probably to throw up. Can't say I blame him. I was feeling sick myself.

We all left the kitchen to the Commons when we heard Maxwell start retching. Him and Brooke were too sweet of people to deserve this...what did any of us do to warrant getting stuck in this twisted game?

Melissa left to go check up on Brooke; David and I sat down at one of the tables in the back corner, looking over the key that Monokuma gave us.

"So it seems new areas of the academy will be unlocked to us passing each Class Trial," David sadly mused.

"Yeah, nice to know the deaths of our friends got us new places in this God forsaken place to look at," I deadpanned.

"Look Desmond, I know this is tough on all of us, but if we're ever going to get out of here, we have to keep pushing forward. We will avenge them, one way or another," David responded.

"...Right. You're absolutely right," I agreed, feeling my spirit perk up a little bit. "We can't just call it quits - it's like Chelsea said! We can't give up on hope!"

"...You know how to speak Spanish?" David asked with a puzzled expression.

"Well, I know now that 'esperanza' is the Spanish word for hope, so I assumed she was saying something about hope." If this were an anime, I'd have a sweatdrop on my head right now.

"Hey, Desmond…" Someone was walking up to us - Melissa. "Could you give me a hand?"

"What's wrong Melissa?" I wondered.

"It's Brooke - she's shut herself away in her room and refuses to answer the door. She wants you and only you, I presume," Melissa explained. "You are the closest one to her, after all."

"Alright, I'll see if I can't get her out," I agreed, getting up out of my seat.

I followed Melissa to the dorms, and she and I struck up a light conversation on the way there.

"Desmond, I really owe you a big thanks for standing up for me during the trial," She said. "I'll be honest, I don't think any of us considered the gloves on her as a possibility."

"Well yeah, but...doesn't take away the sting of losing her," I responded, looking to the pockets on my suit jacket. "You think I could take care of her horse?"

"It's possible," Melissa answered me. "You do have the will to learn something like that, I believe."

"The least I can do for Chelsea is to try," I sighed. We soon arrived at the door to Brooke's room. Melissa stepped aside, letting me take the lead.

I rang on the doorbell, with the voice from the other end yanking at my heartstrings.

"W-What do you want?" Brooke's voice forced itself out, a twang of pain audible in her voice.

"Brooke? It's me, Desmond," I responded. "May I...come in?" There was silence from the other end of the door before it slowly creaked open. Her eyes were bloodshot and cheeks stained from tears.

"I...I don't wanna do this anymore…" Brooke sobbed. "I...I wanna go home…"

"None of us want to do this Brooke," I sympathized. "All of us more or less share the sentiment you have...I want to go home too, but that would mean playing right into the paws of our captor." I paused, needing to put on a brave face for Brooke. "But as long as we stick together Brooke, I know for a fact we'll be able to go home to our families someday. We just have to stay together as one, right?"

"Y-Yeah…" Brooke agreed.

"I'll be honest, I was...really scared during that trial," I confided. "I just put on a brave face and acted like I was in the spotlight. It's how I was able to get through that without having a nervous breakdown."

"Really?" Brooke looked at me with wide eyes.

"You were just putting on an act?" Melissa questioned. "Ha, then someone should give you an Academy Award that isn't paid for. You sure fooled me. I believed you've been in a courtroom all your life."

"Not really," I admitted. Brooke then hugged me all of the sudden.

"T-Thank you Desey…" She said. "We might not be able to get Felicey or Cheley back, but...they'll always be with us, right? In our hearts?"

"Sure they will," I confidently responded. My stage presence was showing itself again. But I could tell we needed it to cheer Brooke up. "And as long as we never forget about them, they'll never be lost to us. You can quote me on that."

"Y-Yeah! You're right!" Brooke exclaimed. "I won't forget about any of you! As long as I'm still alive, all of you will hold a special place in my heart!"

Melissa smiled. "That's...really sweet of you, Brooke," She said. "Now, we could really use you right now. We have the key to the Heart Area. Maybe there'll be an Art Room for you?"

Brooke's eyes sparkled at the prospect at that. "Yes! Let's go!" Before I could react, Brooke was strongly pulling me back towards The Commons.

David saw us coming inside, holding the Heart Key in hand. "I take it you three are ready to go now?"

"Ready as we'll ever be," I said.

"Of course we are," Melissa seconded my comment.

"Yup! We sure are!" Brooke chimed.

"Very well. Let's go everyone," David said to the group. "Desmond, I'm going to unlock the Heart Area for everyone else to explore. I want you to come with me."

"Really? What for?" I asked.

"Just let the guy spend some time with you," Robert told me. "After that trial and being a part of...the whole thing, y'know, I feel like he could use some company."

"Yeah, you're right," I agreed. We all followed David to the wall to the Heart Area, where he inserted the key in the lock and gently turned it. After removing the key, the center of the wall turned 90 degrees as the wall folded back to allow us access.

"Alright everyone, same deal as last time!" Chase exclaimed. "We'll report back here in The Commons with our findings. Move out!"

Once everyone headed out to investigate the Heart Area, David and I were all alone as he turned to me.

"There is one room I need to investigate first before we check out the rest of the Heart Area. It should help with our investigation of this academy," He said.

"Ah, you mean the Administration Office," I realized.

"Precisely. We're partners after all. That's why I wanted to investigate with you," David explained. "Now, let's make this quick."

I followed David to the Administration Office, with him unlocking the door and stepping inside first. From the looks of it, the office was pretty standard for a school - two computer stations, likely where the secretaries sat were positioned behind a long white colored counter, with various filing cabinets lining the back wall. There was one drawer that caught my interest, labeled 'Student Records'. I tried to open it up, but it wouldn't budge.

"What the...it's locked," I said.

"Looks like the keyhole belongs to a key we won't likely be getting until much later...and it doesn't seem to belong to the other three areas of the school," David said, noting the keyhole looked like a very weird and jagged shape.

"Maybe...we should find a key shaped sword?" I randomly suggested. "That would open it, right?"

"...Desmond…" David sighed. "This place is more sci-fi than fantasy. Try to focus on reality."

"Sorry…" I looked down at the floor, slightly embarrassed. It was worth a shot at least. Leaning up against one of the red and black painted walls, David finishing poking around the office before reporting back to me.

"I couldn't find anything out of the ordinary other than that cabinet...but I was able to find this." David handed me a scrap of paper with a username and password on it. "Seems like to me we can use one of these computers with this here."

"And what'd you find?" I asked him.

"The only things I were able to find weren't too exciting. There was an email, but all of them have been deleted," David said. "It's likely they've been scrubbed clean too, so there's no chance of getting any information that way. All I found were our class schedules from the high schools we went to before coming here."

"Good to know," I commented.

"I did find something interesting about your schedule," David added. "You took shop class?"

"...Honestly it was for credits, not because I was interested in it," I confided. "Y'know, electives and all. There wasn't anything else other than choir that interested me, so I just let my counselor randomly pick for me."

"I see…" David mused. "Anyway, we're done here. Let's go see what else the Heart Area has to offer."

Leading the way, David and I soon entered the Heart Area, the first room we noticed being one with a red cross sign above it.

"Gonna assume this is like, a nurse's office or something," I wagered a guess as I walked inside. As I suspected, it was indeed a nurse's office with two beds to the right having a curtain divider between them, a refrigerator, and cabinets marked with various medical supplies. Inside was Street, who looked quite pleased to see all this.

"Hello boys," Street greeted. "Guess we know where all the medical supplies are if any of us get sick or hurt."

"Monokuma would want us to take care of ourselves, right?" David asked.

"That's what I'm guessing anyway," Street answered. "While at the firehouse I've worked with EMS. They've taught me a lot."

"So, I presume you're going to take on the role as the doctor for the group?" I wondered. "Wouldn't that make you a threat to potential killers?"

"...Have you already forgotten what I'm capable of?" I could see Street's hands balling up into fists. "I've had all sorts of weapons pulled on me when all I had on me were my own fists and feet to fend them off. Even guns. I've had to improvise a lot."

"This much is believable because of your title," David commented. "Truly fitting of you if you ask me."

"Is there a chance I'll be targeted? Yes, that's true." Street folded her arms. "However, I'm never going to go down without a fight. I don't back down from any challenge. If someone wants to try and kill me, I'll fight them with everything I've got. As far as killing them goes..." She went quiet.

"Street...have you ever killed anyone before?" I then asked, sounding surprised.

"...Never. I'll beat the shit out of anyone stupid enough to want to try and fight me, and anyone I was pitted up against underground. As far as killing them, I never take a life. At least, I try not to," Street continued. "I've been fortunate enough to have never taken one."

"Well, that's a relief," I smiled. "It takes a lot of skill to hold back to not kill someone in a no holds barred street brawl, right?"

"That's why I'm the Ultimate Street Fighter, Desmond," Street mused. "That and having never lost before in any of those underground fights I've been in all the time." She paused. "I'll tell you more about it later if you want. I've got to take full inventory of what's here."

"Got it." I decided to head out to the next room which was down the hall a little ways, seeing Brooke inside with Olivia, Maxwell, Maddie, and Robert. Brooke watched me walk in, waving to me. This looked like an art room to me.

"Desey! Desey! Check it out, Desey!" Brooke ran to me, showing me around. There were a lot of art supplies around such as paint, clay, and even fabrics, with several tables for kids to work on various projects. On the back two tables were sewing machines, which Brooke clearly set up shop back there.

"What about it, Brooke?" I noticed that Brooke had been working on one of the sewing machines, because of course she would.

"I was making one of my new designs I've been meaning to work on for awhile," Brooke explained. "Also, can I ask to get your measurements?"

"...This is clothing related, right?" I asked. If I was an anime character, I'd have a sweatdrop on my forehead.

"Get your mind outta the gutter, man," Robert teased.

"What's that mean?" Brooke asked Robert.

"You'll understand when you're older," Robert was quick to dismiss Brooke's question. With a tape measure in hand, I let Brooke measure me so she could make me something nice. She did promise me and David a new outfit if I remember right; here's hoping this one isn't too outlandish.

"So what do you guys think?" I asked the others in the room as Brooke eagerly got to work.

"I feel like this room is a place where we can all do fun stuff together," Maxwell mused. "Brooke's clearly having fun."

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Maddie asked me.

"Well…" I gave them the gist of the conversation I had with Brooke that got her to cheer up.

"That was thoughtful of you, Desmond," Olivia smiled. "Brooke's probably glad to have a friend like you around."

"Considering she's making an outfit for me, that doesn't surprise me," I chuckled.

"We do need everyone to be in high spirits if we have a chance to get out of here," Maxwell added. "It's like Michael said, open minds and kind hearts are going to win in the end."

"Huh...I didn't realize you were a follower, Maxwell," Robert said. "Not that I care, man. You do whatever."

"Oh, it's just that I agree with Michael on a lot of things," Maxwell replied. "He and I were talking earlier about what we could do to unify the group."

"If you ask me, we could use a little competitive spirit in this place," Maddie suggested. "I'm a real competitive girl if you ask me."

"As long as it's friendly Maddie, I'm down for that," Olivia chuckled.

"Hey, it could be a good idea," Robert agreed.

"Then I'll bring it up with Michael when we meet up again," Maxwell said.

As I left with Olivia, I asked her, "So we have Chase, Maxwell, and Michael trying to lead us to survival?"

"Sure seems that way," Olivia agreed. "You got a problem with that, my boy?"

"Oh no, it just feels like, y'know, a case of too many cooks in the kitchen, y'know?" I pointed out.

"Hmm...sounds like you've got a point," Olivia said as we entered the next room after walking down a ways. The room looked to be like a shop class, having portable power tools, wood and metal to work with, and a couple pairs of safety goggles and respirators. Inside was Michael, Thomas, and Jonathan.

"Shop class, huh?" Thomas mused. "Think we could build a way out with all this stuff?"

"I don't see much use here for that," Michael said. "No doubt we'd be punished for trying to escape this prison."

"Well it's not your typical glasshouse, but it'd be worth a try to get out," Thomas responded.

"You can if you want Thomas, but I'm not planning on actively resisting like this," Michael frowned.

"Hmm…" Jonathan put a hand to his chin.

"What's up, Johnny Boy?" Olivia asked.

"Huh? Oh, I'm just thinking to myself," Jonathan answered. "I checked out all the other areas in this part of the school. Only other thing worth note is that there's a big gymnasium here."

"How big are we talking?" I questioned.

"It's the only room in this area with double doors. Melissa was hoping there'd be a pool or something like that here, but doesn't seem to be the case," Jonathan added.

"You think Monokuma would?" Olivia thought.

"That's a good idea!" As if on cue, Monokuma popped up out of nowhere, surprising all of us.

Michael's disposition soured. "Oh. Hello, Monokuma."

"Don't act like you're not happy to see me, Pastor," Monokuma teased. "As for why Melissa would want to have a pool, it's very simple! She'd want to show off that figure to the whole world! It's what pools are for, to get the girls in swimsuits for all the guys to stare...and girls, if you swing that way. Think of the ratings!"

"Hey, Melissa is not a sex object!" I quickly defended. Then I realized something. "...Did you just say 'ratings'?"

"Bingo! That's right, these security cameras are broadcasting you bastards to the outside world," Monokuma explained.

"...You sicken me more and more as time goes on," Michael growled. However, Monokuma took that as a compliment.

"Aw, thank you for the feedback! I try my beary best!" He said, then turning to Thomas. "And you! This'll go to everyone...but I've already said trying to leave is a waste of your time unless you're looking to kill. So don't do it, or you'll get punished! This is your only warning."

"Yeesh, I'm just thinking out loud," Thomas replied.

"That's all. See ya round the block!" Monokuma then vanished. Olivia flipped him off as he left.

"I fucking hate that bear," She grumbled.

"Join the club, Olivia," Michael sighed.

"So, I'm gonna go show Desmond the gymnasium now," Jonathan said suddenly. "You three have fun with that."

Jonathan and I left the shop class as he led me to the gymnasium. "Why'd you want to hit the eject button on that conversation?"

"I think that it'd just be bet to back off from that flash fire," Jonathan answered. "Anyway, here we are."

We opened the double doors and stepped inside the gymnasium. Like Jonathan said, it was a pretty big place, with the basketball court floor being the floor for the most part and looked to be regulation for the NBA. The bleachers of course were reclined back against the west and east walls, since they were not in use. On the north wall was another double set of doors that was fixed open and had a lot of various sports equipment inside. To the left was another door which I assumed was to another room, and to the right was a pair of doors that had similar signs and scanners on them that the dressing room showers did. Inside was Ronnie and Melissa; I didn't know where Chase was, so that was the first thing I asked.

"Hey, have either of you seen Chase?" I looked to Ronnie for an answer.

"Oh him? He's in the weight room over there." Ronnie gestured to door on the left side of the north wall. "Chase was really happy to have that open to us."

"I was hoping there'd be a pool in here somewhere," Melissa added. "The pool I have back at home was a heated swimming pool that I always swam around in when I was suffering from writer's block."

"Just thought I'd show him this place," Jonathan told the two. "C'mon Desmond. Let's go see the weight room."

"...Even though I'll never be using it?" I then said.

"Ah, come on man, I can spot for you," Jonathan mused. That's not the response I wished to hear, but I followed Jonathan regardless.

A better name for the weight room would've been the exercise room - barbells and weights weren't the only things available in there. I spotted a pair of treadmills, chin-up bars, and mats for other light exercise inside. We obviously saw Chase inside, using one of the bench press things.

"Clue! Phoenix! This place is awesome!" Chase exclaimed. "I've been waiting for a chance to work out!"

"Uh...how much are you lifting?" I was quick to ask.

"Oh, I'd estimate about...300 pounds?" Chase guessed in between repetitions. Before I got the chance to ask Chase what they fed him in the military to even lift that much, Jonathan chuckled.

"Hey we can lift together later man," He said. "Come on, we gotta report back." Putting the barbell he was using back, Chase sat up and got back on his feet.

"Right! Come along, gentlemen!" Chase ordered.

We were led back to The Commons by Chase as he went to rounding up everyone else. Once present, Chase started the meeting.

"Report! What all have you found in the Heart Area?" Chase asked with a boom in his voice.

"I looked into the administration office, and all I found was a locked filing cabinet," David reported. "Nothing to find there."

"There's a nurse's office here, and it's fully stocked with any sort of medical supplies we could ever need," Street added. "I have EMS training, so I would like to be this group's doctor."

"Are you sure we should have someone else be on duty?" Ronnie suggested. "I mean, we could have-"

"Put a sock in it, Ferret," Street darkly responded, cutting him off. "I didn't ask you." Ronnie visibly recoiled from that comment I could feel the venom in. I guess she was still holding a grudge.

"There's an art room with sewing machines!" Brooke cheerily reported. "I know what I'm gonna be doing."

"Yeah, there's also a lot of other stuff there too that we can work on as a group," Maxwell added optimistically.

"We got a shop class, but the bloody bear is gonna take escape attempts seriously," Thomas said. "So that's out."

"And there's a gymnasium we can use too," Ronnie added. "Chase already found the weight room and has been using it, I take it."

"Of course I have! I'd need to be in peak fitness to combat despair," Chase replied.

"Now that we're all here, since it's dinnertime...how about we have dinner together?" Michael suggested. With a collective nod, we all went to the kitchen to enjoy some dinner. I had a pair of sloppy joe sandwiches with a side of mac and cheese. We all packed on the food this evening, since our moment to calm down after the trial and search of the Heart Area took us all afternoon. We also had some casual conversations that wouldn't be out of place in Seinfeld - in other words, we talked a lot about nothing.

We had some time before nighttime, as everyone dispersed to do things in the new areas for some leisure. I went to the gymnasium and found Melissa shooting some hoops. I wanted to spend some time with her, so I waved over to her.

"Hey there Desmond," Melissa waved back. "Didn't take me for the sporty type, did you?"

"Oh no, I just wanted to spend some time with you," I responded. "Would you mind?"

"Not at all, Desmond," Melissa smiled. "I hope you can keep up!"

So I spent time with Melissa playing basketball with one of the hoops in the gymnasium. We weren't really keeping track of the score, but it was clear Melissa was the winner.

"Hmhmhmhmhm...I've gotten playing basketball in a dress down to a science," She giggled.

"Yeah...no kidding," I responded. "So...Melissa. Forgive me for asking, but what's it like being rich?"

"...Well, for one, I never really had to worry about getting the things I needed," Melissa explained. "But it's so dreadfully boring at times, you know?"

"Huh? It's boring?" I wondered. "Why?"

"I never really had any friends growing up, unless I count the help," Melissa continued. "They were more than the help to me. They were the closest I had to any company when I was a little girl. I also went to a private school and got a later start on my K-12 education than most kids, but...I never really grew close to any kids my age."

"Why's that?" I pressed for more information.

"Because they were all snobs or stuck-ups in one way or another," Melissa answered. "I became a writer because I found refuge in the pages. If I ever needed any inspiration, I took a dip in the pool. I always get my best ideas swimming around for some reason. It's how I came up with the plot of my first novel."

"Oh yeah, I remember that one. It was called 'Diving for Truth', right?" I remembered reading that book, and it's how I found out about her being an author.

"Indeed it was," Melissa responded. "But I guess what I really want in life isn't the money or all the commodities available to a lady like me. What I really want, more than anything, is friends." She paused before hugging me, causing my face to turn red slightly from how sudden it was. "Thanks for spending this time with me, Desmond. Guess we can be friends, huh?"

"Uh...uh...yeah, y-yeah we can," I stammered, getting released from the hug.

"Anyway, I best get going. See you around." She then left the gymnasium. I never really knew what it was like to be rich as her, but I never thought it was lonely at the top. Now, I would love to be friends with her, but...it feels like more than that...eh, it's probably just me.

"Attention students, it is now 10 pm, so nighttime has begun. Sleep tight, and don't let the bedbugs bite," Monokuma's voice was heard on the PA.

Without much else to worry about, I decided to head back to my dorm and call it a night. Like usual, I was out like a light when my head hit the pillow. I was always a heavy sleeper.

(And...that's done. So from here on out till the final chapter, the Daily Life segments will be split up into three parts. This is just me wanting to get progress done quicker and have more screentime to give. Bye for now!)


	8. Chapter 2 Daily Life Part 2

(Plot! FTE's! We got it here for you!

The Reviews

ShadowYoshi442: Desmond is a KH fan confirmed? XD

Nan The Keyblade Master: Why wait till then? It's always a good time to destroy that damn bear! You just gotta want it. Also see my above response.

Beninja2618: Is anyone ever not nervous for who will bite the dust next? Unless, of course, you're replaying the games, but that's only ever for FTEs.

Siege25: First appearances can be deceiving. That is all.)

It was the dawn of the fourth day in Hope's Peak Academy Indianapolis, and I knew that from the same message I've heard three times now.

"Goooooooood morning, everyone! It's time for another spectacular day!"

I got out of bed and rubbed my eyes. I didn't get as good of a sleep as I normally did...likely due to that execution still fresh in my mind. Thank you nightmares for reminding me of that gruesome death. I really appreciate you.

Dragging myself out of bed to get dressed, I went to meet up with the others in The Commons, who were all having a meeting over breakfast. Thomas greeted me.

"Top of the morning, Desmond!" He exclaimed. Street looked over to me.

"You feeling okay?" She asked with concern in her voice. "You look a little under the weather."

"No, I just didn't sleep as well last night as I have in the past," I explained. "So what's with the meeting?"

"We've decided on how to build teamwork with each other through friendly competition!" Chase exclaimed. "Thomas came up with the idea."

"Oh?" I wondered. "What did you propose?"

"Well, Thomas suggested we all do a tourney of soccer," Michael explained. "Three people a team, four teams, and single elimination."

"But there's fourteen of us," David pointed out.

"That's why I'm sitting out. Figured if I played football with you, it would hardly be fair," Thomas replied. "I'll be the official."

"We still have thirteen...so who is sitting out?" Olivia wondered.

"Either Ferret sits out or I sit out," Street bluntly said.

"Um...Ferret is...who exactly?" Brooke wondered. All eyes fell on Ronnie.

"Fine, fine, I'll sit out," Ronnie conceded. "I could provide this tourney with my cutting edge commentary." Street shot him an unamused look, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, so now that we've got that determined, let's randomly select the teams!" Thomas grinned.

So the teams were decided - me, Chase, and Maddie were a team; Melissa, Brooke, and Maxwell were a team; Robert, David, and Street were a team; and Michael, Jonathan, and Olivia were a team.

"We'll start the first round of games today after lunch, so do what you need to get ready," Thomas added. With that, the meeting was adjourned.

It was pretty early in the morning, so I decided to go down to the gymnasium to see if I could get some warmups in. Instead, I found Chase.

"Ah, Desmond! Good to see you," He greeted.

"You've finally stopped calling me by my last name, huh?" I asked.

"I thought I could get some reps in before the games tomorrow, but I could use a spotter," Chase said.

"...This is against my better judgement, but I'll spot you," I kindly offered.

"Let's go then!" With the force of hydraulics, Chase dragged me off to the locker room first so I could get changed into something more appropriate. Namely a white tank top and black gym shorts. I took note of how this seemed to be the standard attire for the boys when it came to physical education.

"Hey, odd question," I spoke up. "...Can I keep my hat on?"

"Huh? Why would you want to keep it on during a workout?" Chase raised an eyebrow.

"Oh well, it's just...this hat and I have been through a lot together," I explained. "It's been with me through my whole high school career and even when I went to Broadway. At this point, it's basically a part of my identity."

"I see...very well then!" Chase didn't really change his apparel, and so we marched on to the weight room. He opted to go first, getting the same amount of weight on the bar he had described to me last time we were here. I swear...this guy is superhuman almost.

"So...why am I in a tank top and gym shorts?" I then inquired after a few minutes. Chase, now having worked up a sweat, got up.

"That's really simple, Desmond," Chase mused. "I want you to try bench presses."

"...What." I looked at the bar he had used. "Are you...seriously saying I should lift that much?" I nervously gulped, taking note of my lack of muscle tone.

"Ha ha ha, of course not!" Chase slapped me on the back. "I was going to have you start on something much lighter."

"Oh, why thank you," I chuckled, once again nervous. "Uh...I prefer to live, man." Chase gestured to a fresh bench, which is where a similar bar was for me, but it looked...different. It looked a bit lighter.

"Is this, the bar that the girls would use?" I guessed.

"Right you are!" Chase exclaimed. "It weighs 30 pounds, which is less than what the bars for guys are. Perfect for you!"

"I see…" I think we have different definitions of the word 'perfect' in this context Chase, but if you insist.

Getting in position on the bench, and after Chase showed me the right technique, I started to do reps with just the bar. Not going to lie, it was pretty hard for me at first.

"Nnngh...nnngh!" I grunted with each up and down motion.

"Come on, Desmond! Show that bar who's boss!" Chase barked in an encouraging way.

"What...what does it _look_ like I'm doing!?" I responded. "Or trying to do at any rate?"

This kept up for what felt like two minutes before I couldn't do any more. My arms were starting to feel sore, and my chest felt like it was starting to catch fire.

"You feeling okay, Desmond?" Chase asked.

"Chase...I'm sorry, I...I can't keep doing this," I apologized.

"There's no need to feel sorry," Chase sympathized. "Any sort of muscle you have is for the stage, clearly."

"Do you really lift this much every day?" I then asked. "Is it...so you can be tough to be a marine?"

"I see how you feel...then let me ask you this in rebuttal. What do you think it means to be in this nation's armed forces?" Chase inquired.

"Well, it means that you're willing to lay your life down on the line for others, right?" I guessed.

"For me, yes. Not just for others, but for the nation as a whole. Semper fidelis is our motto, standing for always faithful, or always loyal." He paused, wiping sweat off his brow. "Look Desmond, I enlisted because this is the land I and the rest of my family calls home. The same goes for the rest of us."

"Well, there's Thomas…" I brought up.

"Even so, he's still a friend. I'm not going to be killing anyone, for I want nothing more than to defeat this mastermind! They're a threat to us, and a threat to this nation. Nothing more, nothing less," Chase continued.

"You and me both," I nodded in agreement. "I want nothing more than for this horrible nightmare to be over. So that we can go back to our friends and families."

"Right. Well, you can go now. I just needed you for that part of my workout," Chase said, dismissing me.

"Welcome…" I really appreciated Chase for what he was doing for the nation. "Oh, and Chase? There was something I wanted to ask you also...don't you have like special language or whatever?"

"Oh that?" Chase blinked. "Ah, see...I'm trying to speak more like a civilian. I figured you wouldn't know what I'd be saying, so that's why I'm speaking the way I do." He clasped his hands together. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to training so we can unfuck this situation we're in."

"Alright then - I'll leave you to it," I said, heading to the guy's locker room.

It was really awkward to shower in something that was considered public. But the warm water really helped my chest and arms feel better after that exercise. There wasn't any shampoo or body wash to have a real shower with, but I just wanted to wash off.

After getting dried off and dressed, I gently placed my hat back on my head as I went out of the locker room and gym. I was going to my room to lie down for a little while when I met Robert in the hallway.

"Hey Desmond. What's going on?" Robert asked.

"Oh y'know, just struggled lifting up the bar that girls use for weightlifting," I told him.

"I see...it's alright man," Robert assured. "Not all of us can be as tough as Chase."

"No doubt about that…" I nodded in agreement. "Say, you wanna hang out for a bit?"

"Sure thing! Let's head to The Commons." I followed Robert to a table at The Commons, sitting down next to him.

"So...what do you want to do?" Robert asked.

"Well, I was just wondering if you had any crazy stories from the road," I said.

"Oh me? Yeah, I've got a couple. I think all truckers have that one event that sticks with you for the rest of your life," Robert replied. "For me, it was the time I brought a runaway kid home."

"You did? What was that like?" I asked.

"I met the kid at a fast food joint somewhere in New York," Robert explained. "The state, not the city. He said he came all the way from Georgia and left after his parents got in a fight. He was scared stiff and bolted because he was afraid that his mom and dad would take their frustration out on him."

"...Did this happen often?" That was my next question.

"No, it was just the first time. He was like...oh, younger than Brooke I think? He never told me how old he was. I talked with him and said that parents have their disagreements more often than we think; but I assured him they wouldn't beat him up. So after I made my delivery, I drove the kid back to his home. His mom and dad were in tears when I brought him back." Robert tipped his cap, letting out a sigh. "I'll never forget how relieved they were."

"Wow...that was really selfless of you, Robert," I remarked.

"Anytime you're able to lend a helping hand to someone in need, I don't see the reason not to lend it," Robert responded with a shrug.

"I had a similar experience with that principle," I mentioned. "Except it was during my Broadway days. I met a homeless man on the streets of New York - the city - and I let him have some money. I was feeling generous that day...I gave him fifty bucks I think, since I felt he needed a new coat."

"And then what happened?" Robert asked, looking interested.

"Well, he started following me around because he was so grateful for what I did. I vouched a front row seat to one of my shows for him, and even came to the airport to see me go home. I...had to act fast before airport security did anything to hurt him," I continued. "Hope he's doing okay, now that I think about him…"

"Yeah. Here's hoping he found a home to stay at," Robert agreed. "You've got a good heart, Desmond. Giving fifty bucks to someone you don't know? Most people would just walk on by."

"That's the thing. He looked so helpless...and before that there were a group of punks harassing him. Mom managed to scare them away," I added. "My mom can be really scary when she's angry…"

"Ha, I can only imagine! Anyway, I'm gonna get some early lunch before the games today," Robert said. "Catch ya later, man."

"See ya on the court, Robert!" I waved him off, deciding I wanted to get some food too. I wasn't exactly sure what I should be eating before a soccer match, since this was my first time playing soccer outside of gym class. So I went with a protein approach - I settled on pork chops with macaroni and cheese.

Once lunch was over with everyone, we all headed to the gym to get ready. In the gym's supply closet, there were jerseys - enough for everyone. Chase, Maddie and I took the red jerseys, and Melissa, Brooke, and Maxwell took the red jerseys. We were playing first today, leaving the other two teams and Ronnie to watch us from the bleachers. Ronnie was holding an empty water bottle in his hand, using it as a mic.

"Helllloooo, everybody! I'm Ronnie Patrick, reporting to you live from Hope's Peak Academy Indianapolis, where the first game of our little soccer tourney is underway. On the red team, we have Desmond Clue, Chase Adams, and Maddie Starr going up against the blue team, consisting of Melissa Scarlett, Brooke Culling, and Maxwell Ackermann. Who will beat the other to move on to the finals? Let's take it over to our referee, Thomas Scott, who will be officiating these games!" He announced.

I watched as Street covered her ears from this. I would be brought to the center with Melissa, where Thomas had a coin in his hand.

"Alright, I'm only gonna explain this once, so pay attention. We're gonna have a coin flip, and the winning team picks which goal they're gonna attack," Thomas explained. "Who's calling it?"

"I say let Melissa call it," I offered.

"Oh, such a gentleman," Melissa giggled. "Tails."

Thomas flipped the coin...and it came up tails.

"Let's go with...that one." Melissa gestured to the goal on the left.

"Alrighty, take your positions, let's play some football-" Thomas spoke, pausing. "I mean…'soccer'. Force of habit."

"Yay! Let's play, guys!" Brooke was eagerly bouncing up and down, ready to start the first match. "We're gonna do super awesome and win!"

"Easy does it, Brooke," Maxwell said. "They have Chase on their side...so this might be an uphill battle."

"Not to worry, you two," Melissa reassured. "I'll be able to even the odds if we need it."

On our side, me, Chase, and Maddie had a little bit of talk before kickoff.

"Alright, here's the plan. Chase, you'll be with me on the attack. Desmond, you be our goalkeeper," Maddie suggested.

"10-4, I'm ready!" Chase exclaimed.

"Uh, sure. Fine by me," I responded. I stood in front of the goal we were defending, ready to go.

* * *

…

…

...

...I suppose I should properly introduce myself, properly to you all. I trust that Desmond has told you about who I am, but it wasn't a full enough picture.

My name is David Stonebreaker, and I am a 18 year old native to Indianapolis. As you are no doubt aware, my father is the chief of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department - IMPD if that sounds like too much of a mouthful to you. I work under him as the assistant medical examiner on the force due to my age when I started. As such, I specialize in determining cause of death and working with corpses; an asset that has no doubt proven useful in the first trial we've been forced to participate in.

Following that line of logic, it is also a double-edged sword. The only reason I told Desmond was because he seems too kind to murder; he's honest to a fault from my initial observations of him. We're partners after all, however, I can't discount the possibility he may try to bump me off. Anyone here may try to kill me, no matter how unlikely. It really does suck how I have to keep this a secret from everyone except Desmond. Every single day I am here in this prison, I run scenarios through my head as to what may happen, determining what will be the best course of action.

But this doesn't exactly make me a cold and calculating individual.

The undue stress that I have on me while working is quite tremendous. When you see enough corpses, you would normally become desensitized to the death that comes in through your doors whenever someone passes away. That is the expectation, to cast aside emotions to not cloud your judgement when making logical, rationalized decisions.

Sometimes it is an accidental murder, natural causes, or maybe even homicide. It is up to us to determine how the individual died so that we may conduct the proper investigation. As you can see, being a medical examiner is quite the responsibility.

I have been told by my father that I have a gift, so to speak. I apparently have the talent of taking a look at wounds and determining how exactly they were created, all the way down to the weapon used and trajectory of where the attacker or object was at the time of its creation.

Unfortunately, I never got used to the sight of bodies. I always feel sorry for the victim having lost their life prematurely; it hurts every time I look at them. At the same time, I want to help people obtain justice and closure whenever they lose someone close to them. That's why I hide my emotions behind a mask of stoicism to avoid looking like I am mentally weak and unfit for the job.

As for how I got involved here, I had insisted my job was more important when I got the letter, so I responded to Hope's Peak that I would be taking my classes online. It was only a few days later once I was off work for the day I got a phone call from an unidentified number. The person on the other end, who I am almost positive is the individual responsible for capturing us and forcing us to kill, had their voice disguised claiming that they were holding my father and several other high ranking officials in the force hostage. Either I come to this school willingly, or I would never see my father again. I immediately agreed before they could finish their demands, that I would come on the day everyone else would.

That night, I had cried my eyes out. I blamed myself for this happening, thinking my responsibility allowed this to happen. My mom, an emergency room nurse, came into my room and assured me this wasn't any fault of mine. She was right; there was no way I could've known that the letter of acceptance into Hope's Peak Academy would lead to my father's kidnapping. At the time I thought that the letter seemed strange - I had never heard of Hope's Peak Academy until the moment that letter was given to me. But now that I'm here...I would do anything to see my father rescued. I gave my word I would save him, and until then, I must participate in this life of mutual killing, and I must survive, whatever the cost may be.

I watched the game from the bleachers with the others, as Ronnie gave color commentary. It was all evenly matched, neither side having scored a goal. This was common in soccer, as far as I was concerned.

While I wasn't really interested with the match at hand, what I was interested in was that Michael had gone somewhere, and he had taken his Bible with him. Under the assumption that he was in the locker room, I stood up, having been sitting next to Robert.

"I need to use the restroom," I said to Robert.

"Go ahead man," Robert responded. "Not like you need to ask permission." With that in mind, I headed off to the men's locker room to search for Michael. I heard his voice inside, deciding to listen in on what he was saying. He was reciting a chapter from the Bible, though I wasn't entirely sure which it was.

"Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High, will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."" Michael recited. "Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence."

I peeked in when he was finished reading the chapter. "Michael?"

"Oh?" Michael paused, looking up from his Bible. "Hello David. What are you doing here?"

"I was wondering where you disappeared off to," I explained. "What chapter is that?"

"It's Psalm 91. You heard it all, didn't you?" Michael inquired. You might not know this about me, but I am curious about the truth behind religion and how the world was made. I even have a bulletin board in my bedroom to track the case I'm working regarding it. It helps me take my mind off of my work. I can't let Michael know this, however, for I don't want to give away my title and run the risk of the information leaking to the others.

"I did, yes," I answered honestly. "What are you planning to do with this?"

"As we are all in here, God is trying to protect us. If we believe in Him, He will save us, David. Essentially what I am going to try and do is get everyone here to accept God. Once they do, Gold will protect us from harm against Monokuma. We may not be able to do anything for Chelsea and Felicity, but we can do something for everyone else still alive." Michael continued. "Of course, I can't speak for everyone here that they'll follow along, but I am praying that He will offer his protection to everyone regardless of their stance on Christianity."

"I see…" I responded. "While I myself am familiar with Christianity, and interested at how the world was created...I prefer to look at things from both a religious and scientific perspective. That said, I respect any opinions you may have."

"The feeling's mutual, David," Michael smiled. "I spoke with Thomas earlier, and he really sounded interested in following."

"Oh? What'd he say?" I pressed for further information on this. It certainly was curious, seeing as how Thomas was dismissive of 'us Americans'.

"Any sort of refuge he can get from Monokuma, he'll take it. I made the offer to him and before I could finish my sentence he said yes," Michael answered.

"Very well then. We should probably get back to the games," I suggested.

"Right behind you." Michael and I headed back to the gymnasium to continue watching the game at hand. Soon enough, it would be our turns to go up to play. I would be ready for that moment.

(And finally done. I've broken my dry spell! So, I've got a couple things to note.

For starters, yes I decided to have David be the second protagonist of this fic. If you think I'll pull a V3, well, you'll have to find out. I won't say much about that. I will say that when I switch P.O.V. from now on, I'll put the name of whose perspective we're seeing the story from in parenthesis. Just so there's no real confusion.

Second thing though, and I really need to address this. Siege PM'd me having this final scene be a suggestion for Michael, which I was originally planning on having him do something like this. When he PM'd me the full suggestion, I got a little wary that I might wind up making him like Angie, and well...Angie is...eh, I'll let you guys find that out on your own.

And finally, I would like to give a shout-out to Magami Kent who PM'd me about the situation regarding Chase. I thought about what to do for a long time, so I decided to have the explanation he gives for why he talks the way he does be good enough. I apologize for not making it as accurate as I could have, but hey. Live and learn. Also yes, Brooke does seem to be a fan favorite among the readers.

Next time...we'll have to say goodbye to another character, and I won't say who it is. But to those reading, I want to remind you all I've had this boot order planned out for a long time, and I already have it set in stone. Until next time!)


	9. Chapter 2 Daily Life Part 3

(Alright, time to finish up Daily Life and find out who's the next person to join the 'You Are Dead, Dead, Dead Club'. Don't mean to be so cynical about it, though.

The Reviews

Nan The Keyblade Master: Y'know, just because I find that typo kinda funny, we're gonna roll with it. Stock up on gold now everyone, you heard it here first! It may very well save your life!

Magami Kent: Well, last I checked I'm a guy (believe me, I've made that mistake here before)...but hey, glad you enjoy this! And yes, civilian speech is the best way we ensure Brooke doesn't go learning anything like that.)

(David)

Desmond sat down next to me once the game he was a part of was done.

"What happened while I was in the bathroom?" I asked him.

"...It was...a moment of weakness," Desmond answered with a sigh. "And let's just leave it at that."

"More than that," Robert snickered. "Desmond got an eyeful from Melissa and Brooke scored the first goal on him." He then began telling me exactly what he meant by 'got an eyeful'.

 _Flashback…_

 _Desmond had manned the goal for the beginning of the match, blocking a few shots quickly that came in the first few minutes. Melissa had the ball, slowly advancing towards the goal._

 _"Meley, pass it to me!" Brooke called, running past Maddie. Melissa responded by having her eyes briefly light up. Quickly kicking the ball over to her, she moved past Chase and started walking towards Desmond._

 _"Uh...hey Melissa...what are you doing?" Desmond asked, sounding a bit nervous as Melissa walked towards him._

 _"Oh you know, I'm being a friendly opponent to you," Melissa cooed, stretching her arms upwards. What was worth noting was that Melissa was trying to bring attention to her chest, catching Desmond off guard._

 _"W-Why are you…" Desmond was visibly confused by what was going on._

 _"Aww...it's adorable when guys get all flustered like this," Melissa giggled. As she was distracting Desmond, Brooke managed to get around Desmond's teammates and kicked the ball squarely in the goal to score._

 _End Flashback..._

Desmond hid his face under his hat. Can't say I blame him for doing that.

"Hey, no need to look so down, you still did good," I tried to reassure him. "We're going to go play now."

"Have fun. I'm going to go spend time with the others," Desmond informed me, noting that the other five left the gym. "Best of luck to you, David!"

(Desmond)

Never have I been so embarrassed before - I let myself get a goal scored on me because Melissa decided to get up in my personal space.

...Well, it wasn't all that bad, because Melissa is pretty attractive...but it happened in front of the others...needless to say, I'm lucky we were able to win by one goal.

The ones who were in the Commons with me were Maxwell, Chase, Maddie, and Melissa. Brooke was there too, but she was headed off to the Heart Area.

"Hey Brooke, where are you going?" I asked.

"I'm gonna get back to working on my special project - for you, Desey!" Brooke answered. "I'm sure you're gonna love it!"

With that being said, Brooke took off. I decided to go talk with Maddie, since I haven't really spent much time with her.

"Hey Desmond! What's going on?" Maddie asked.

"Oh, nothing really. I just wanted to spend some time with you," I answered honestly.

"Well, if it helps you get pumped up for tomorrow, we could do some cheers," Maddie offered. "You know, since you looked so down earlier."

"Don't remind me...and sure, we can," I agreed.

"Ready? Okay!" Maddie clasped her hands together, ready to teach me.

So that's how I spent the rest of my morning, doing cheer drills with Maddie.

"Wow Desmond, you've got some pretty good stamina," Maddie noted in a positive tone of voice.

"Yeah I do. It helps you get through doing multiple shows in a day," I chuckled.

"So I take it you know what cheerleading is all about, right?" Maddie inquired. "Cheerleading should be about keeping a positive and supportive attitude, school spirit, and enthusiasm."

"Well yeah, it puts the cheer in cheerleading, right?" I responded.

"Obviously. But for me, my cheerleading has taken me to regional contests, going as far as nationals. There's a big physical aspect to it as well - you've seen it yourself," Maddie continued. "Mom and I reached for the stars in this sport. Reach for the sky, she always said. That's not just the limit."

"Really? You kept on aiming higher?" I asked in confusion.

"Mhm. I'm a competitive person by nature, Desmond. The world's a competitive place everywhere you look. If you're not shooting for the stars, well...what's the point?" Maddie replied. "If you shoot for as high as you can reach, then you'll be able to make it anywhere."

"True…" I agreed. "Thanks for hanging out with me, Maddie. Talk to you later."

"Don't stop believing, Des!" Maddie winked as I looked at the clock. It was time for lunch, so I went to make myself a plate of food. I settled on a garden salad with a blue colored sports drink for lunch. Soon everyone else from the other game and Brooke filed in for lunch as well.

Once I was done with lunch, Maxwell was still lingering around the Commons.

"Hey Maxwell. What's up with you?" I asked.

"Oh, just hoping that everything's alright on the outside…" Maxwell answered. "Cause yeah, being stuck in here with no way of knowing what's going on outside is really making it hard on my nerves."

"Me too...I just hope my family's okay…" I agreed. "Wanna spend time with me to take your mind off of it?"

"Sure thing. Hey, how about we have a pretend job interview?" Maxwell offered. "Knowing how to do a job interview is a real vital skill if we need to find work out there."

"I'd love to!" I agreed with a smile.

"Alright! Let's head to the academic wing to do this," Maxwell said.

We headed to the social studies classroom, setting up two desks to be facing one another. Maxwell sat down, as did I.

"Okay Desmond, so the first thing to remember is well, you're already dressed up nice as is," Maxwell began. "With each job interview, you're meeting new people, selling yourself and the skills you have, and on top of all that, you've got to remain enthusiastic and upbeat through the interview."

"Got it. Now...where do we start?" I asked.

"Well, how about you tell me about what you're capable of, Desmond?" Maxwell inquired.

"Hmm...well, I am a great singer," I started with the obvious. "I have really great hearing attuned through my years of exposure to music."

"How great would you say your hearing is?" Maxwell asked me.

"My hearing is great to where I can hear things most others cannot," I answered. "I can't exactly hear what a heart is saying though, since well...hearts can't talk."

"You mean like that Athena Cykes girl from the Ace Attorney games?" Maxwell followed-up.

"I guess? Haven't really seen those," I replied. "But yeah, point is I've got really powerful ears."

"Anything else?" Maxwell pressed for more.

"My memorization skills are good. Mostly remembering song lyrics and my lines from scripts in plays," I continued.

"Ah, that could be really useful," Maxwell mused. "I just thought I'd get to know you a bit more."

"Really? Then...what are your skills?" I then asked.

"Organizing a company of truckers, planning out routes for them to that take will take the least amount of time, good communication skills...you know, all the things a business owner should have," Maxwell answered.

"So, you just wanted to have a casual conversation with me?" I inquired.

"Well yeah. There is one important thing to managing a business, or managing any group of people for that matter - and that's building a rapport," Maxwell responded with a smile. "Because my mom was a loving boss who got to know the names of all of our employees, helped them out with their personal issues, and gave them time off to recover from any sort of injury, illness, or personal life problems. So when I inherited the company, I made sure to do just like she did."

"Any good boss should put their employees first," I said.

"Oh, and don't get me started on 'crunch', which is absolutely immoral," Maxwell agreed. "The crunch isn't something to be proud of, it's a failure in management and something to be ashamed of."

"Crunch?" I wondered.

"...I'll need some time to think about what I'd say about it," Maxwell answered. "Anyway, good talking with you, Desmond."

"Same to you." I left the classroom, thinking about what Maxwell said. Building a rapport with others...it is an important thing to do, especially when working with a team. But in a situation like this, I can see why it's so vital. Maybe if I could build good rapports with the group as a whole, we could avoid having other murders happening.

With nothing else to do, I decided to head back to the gym to see how the other game was going.

(David)

We had just finished up the game, with me, Robert, and Street coming out on top.

"Alright mates! Tomorrow we'll have our championship match!" Thomas announced. "Great playing today. Although I'll have to tell Melissa distracting you blokes like that isn't allowed…"

"Why didn't you say anything then?" Olivia asked.

Thomas shrugged. "I thought it was funny."

"Of course you did…" Street folded her arms.

As we walked to the Commons to meet up with the others, I knew that Thomas would let Melissa distract Desmond with her female figure. He does have disdain for Americans, after all. I don't understand where this comes from, but I can only assume it comes from the negative stereotypes associated with American citizens. Obesity, materialism, military zeal, ignorance to the environment, and so on...I will digress, this country has its problems, but there is plenty good it has done to balance this out. No country, and on a smaller scale, no human is perfect and without flaw. It's what makes humans what we are - human. I know I'm not perfect. I never will be.

Once in the Commons, I sat across from Desmond. "Feeling better now, Desmond?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I'm over earlier," Desmond answered me honestly.

"Did I miss anything while I was away?" I continued my line of questions.

"Well, I spent time with Maddie and Maxwell. Maddie told me about how she's a competitive person by nature," Desmond answered, still being honest with me. "And Maxwell just wanted to get to know me better."

"I see...a businessman like Maxwell would want to build strong connections with the group," I reasoned. "As for me, I heard something that I'd like to discuss in your room once everyone has gone to bed."

"Okay then…" Desmond agreed. He didn't seem to certain what it was I wanted to talk with him about, that being Michael's plan of action. "Well, you want to grab dinner, at least? It's getting around that time."

"Sure thing, Desmond," I replied, followed up with a suggestion. "Perhaps we can learn more about each other over dinner?"

"Why sure!" Desmond smiled. So we both grabbed our plates of food - I settled on having grilled chicken and green beans, whereas Desmond settled for a bowl of macaroni and cheese with a fried chicken thigh and leg. There were a few people sitting near us, and that ran the risk of someone figuring out the truth regarding my title. So I had to keep the conversation focused on Desmond and not so much on me.

"So Desmond, what's your secret to success?" I started off the conversation.

"To what, me performing?" Desmond blinked. "Well...I guess you could say it's my dedication to performing. Every time the curtain opens up and the lights turn on, I am determined to put on the best show I can give the audience."

"I see...and you've got winning charisma to do that, I take it," I mused.

"Well yeah, the crowds love watching me perform! I even started doing solo acts because of this outside of choir," Desmond continued. "I've moonlighted as a singer around my county...or as far as my parents were willing to take me. It's how I've been able to get something close to an actual job."

"Do you like solo acts more than being in choir?" I couldn't help but ask, cutting my chicken neatly.

"Well...yes and no," Desmond answered.

"Why the wishy washy answer?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, yeah, there's no doubt about having a strong stage presence that makes me a star, but at the same time, I don't want to discount the other members of my choirs. The altos, tenors, and sopranos made songs sound more powerful, you know? I'm just one guy, I can't fill those parts," Desmond explained. "Not to mention they felt like part of the family after spending enough time with them...I hope they're doing alright outside."

Desmond certainly wasn't lying about the charisma part. For as long as I've known him, which has only been a few days, he has a smile that could brighten up any room, just like our friend Brooke can. However, that does come at a cost - the cost being that he's nowhere near as bright as most of us. Although I don't want to put him on the spot and start drilling him on various investigative techniques, he has his own special ways of getting to the truth of the matter. The first trial we participated in is evidence to my claim. Of course, I had figured it out before he did. I just didn't want to be the one to accuse Chelsea.

"I'm positive they're okay," I assured. Jonathan sat next to us, having a sloppy joe sandwich with steak fries.

"Hey guys. Mind if I join you?" He asked.

"Sure thing Jonathan," Desmond agreed.

"I don't see any problem with it," I nodded. Jonathan sat down next to Desmond, digging into his own dinner.

"So what're you guys talking about?" Jonathan asked.

"I was asking Desmond about his singing career," I explained. "His secret to success."

"Ah...well, mind if I change the subject?" Jonathan requested. "I wanted to talk about Street."

"Still trying to see if she likes you?" Desmond guessed.

"Well, kind of. I'm just wondering what you two think of her," Jonathan answered. "Just your honest views of her."

"She takes crap from no one," Desmond began. "And she'll fight anyone who challenges her with everything she's got. That said, I don't think Street will wind up killing anyone."

I put a hand to my chin in thought on what to say. If I had to guess, Street must like Jonathan back due to her past experiences growing up around firefighters as her legal guardians, and therefore would have a positive connotation with them. The same could be said for the other branches of emergency services.

"She might have mutual feelings for you given your background, Jonathan," I answered after a moment of contemplation. "But it's just a guess on my part."

"Alright then. Because the first time I asked her after the first trial, she just walked off without a word," Jonathan stated. "But then again, who could blame her?"

"Agreed...we all needed a moment to walk away after that," Desmond nodded in response. "I know Brooke obviously needed a moment."

"Yeah…" Jonathan bit into his sandwich, and we just sat there to eat.

(Desmond)

After a little while once we were done with dinner, we had a little time before nighttime. So I decided to go see Thomas, since I haven't really talked with him at all. He was in the shop class when I found him.

"Hey Thomas," I greeted. "Whatcha doing?"

"'Ello, lad. I'm still trying to figure out what to do after this little tourney," Thomas answered me. "What'd you want?"

"I just wanted to spend a little time with you, that's all," I answered. "Is that okay?"

"Well sure thing, Desmond. I figure I could show you a thing or two about me and Britain," Thomas agreed. "Let's go to the social studies classroom."

I followed Thomas to the social studies classroom, and I took a seat with him going up to the chalkboard. I listened to him give a summary lesson on Britain, and once he was done, he looked up at the ceiling.

"That's all there is to my homeland, Desmond," Thomas concluded.

"Are you sure about that?" I asked. "You seem like you've got something on your mind."

Thomas sighed. "Yeah, it's...something you wouldn't understand. You know of the European Union, right?"

"Oh yeah, you were telling me about that, how it was formed during the second World War," I answered. "What about it?"

"The UK had a referendum to leave the EU, it was a pretty big deal," Thomas explained. "I...honestly didn't understand why. From what I remember hearing from my mum, it had something to do with the economy."

"I see...why is this so big on your shoulders?" I wondered.

"For as long as I've been alive, the UK has been a part of the EU. It's just the fact this is even happening is just so hard to believe, you know?" Thomas told me. "But I learned something from it. We're all going to face change in our lives eventually, Desmond. We're going to have to be ready to learn and grow from these changes. That's what makes us better people."

"Agreed." I nodded. Thomas didn't really give me the explanation I was hoping for...but I think I understand his stance on the issue. I feel like I got to know him better as a result of this.

Once I walked out of the classroom, Monokuma's voice came over the intercom.

"Attention students, it is now 10 pm, so nighttime has begun. Sleep tight, and don't let the bedbugs bite," His voice said.

Remembering that David wanted to talk to me, I went to my room and waited for him to arrive. The ring of my doorbell was heard in my room an hour later, and when I went to the door, David was there.

"Come in," I said to him, stepping aside to allow him to walk inside. Shutting the door behind him, I began the conversation, "So what'd you want to talk to me about?"

"It's about Michael," David answered. "He plans on bringing us together through God."

"Um...okay?" I blinked in confusion. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Just thought you should know," David answered quickly. "That and well, we're going to be competing against each other tomorrow."

"You won your game, then?" I guessed.

"Mhm. Street is quite the formidable opponent," David nodded. "But then again, you have Chase. Should be a real clash of the titans, don't you agree?"

"Oh yeah, no doubt about that," I chuckled. "Good luck to you, I guess. I'm gonna get some sleep."

"Me too. Feeling's mutual, partner." With those words, David left my room and went to his to retire for the night. Changing into my pajamas, my head hit the pillow once under the sheets and comforter, and I was quickly asleep.

* * *

"Goooood morning, everyone! It's time for another spectacular day!"

Day five was here, and I was quick to get out of bed. I wanted to have a good breakfast and a good match against David today. When I got to the Commons, I had a breakfast of French toast and scrambled eggs when Chase walked up to me.

"Good morning!" Chase greeted. "Want to work out together once you're done with breakfast?"

"Oh, sure thing Chase," I quickly agreed. "I'll be with you in a little bit." Everyone was socializing with each other this morning, which really made the mood light and cheery. Street sat across from me, digging into her own breakfast of sausage and pancakes.

"Ready for today, Desmond?" She asked me. "I can't promise I'll go easy on you."

"I don't expect you to, Street," I kindly answered. "I just hope to have a fun match with you, David, and Michael."

"So long as Ferret can keep his trap shut I won't get a red card for hitting him…" Street grumbled. "Seriously, his 'color commentary' can be so annoying."

"...Still hung up on what he did a few days ago?" I curiously inquired. Street looked at me with a darkened expression that almost had me choke on my food.

"Don't speak of that again," She requested.

"Uh, yeah…" I agreed, going back to eating.

Once I had finished breakfast, Chase and I headed to the weight room to do his daily weightlifting. Maybe in due time I'll be able to lift the girl's bar without much trouble. I had my thoughts preoccupy me so much, I almost didn't notice something that Chase did. All I heard was a creaking noise.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Chase bellowed, suddenly shoving me out of the doorway with a great amount of force. I was pushed like a ragdoll, and then…

THUD!

My entire world was blanketed by darkness. I had no idea how long I was out for, but I found myself slowly regaining consciousness once I heard someone shaking me awake. Brooke.

"Desey! Desey!" She exclaimed, looking as if she'd seen a ghost.

"Nngh...Brooke?" I asked in a groggy voice tone. "What...what's wrong?" Brooke didn't answer me, she just pointed in the direction of the weight room entrance. When I sat up and looked in the direction she was pointing...part of me wishes I stayed unconscious.

Lying on the ground with his frozen expression looking at us, Chase had a nasty looking mark on his neck, but I knew that face all too well.

Chase Adams, the Ultimate Marine...was dead. What confirmed it was the familiar death toll over the intercom.

"A body has been discovered! Following an investigation period, a Class Trial will commence! Report to the gymnasium for more information!" Monokuma's voice was heard.

...What? How? Why...why did Chase die!?

 **Chapter 2: Killer in the Mirror (Daily Life) End**

 **Survivors: 13/16**

(Dun dun dun!

Okay, so I wanna reiterate - I had this boot order planned out before writing this story, but even then it still was hard to write this out.

Sorry for being away for another dry spell - family business and school kept me away. Along with general boredom and whatnot, but who cares about that? Next time we'll see the Deadly Life from David Stonebreaker's POV, in hopes of finding the blackened who killed Chase! See you then!)


	10. Chapter 2 Deadly Life

(Welp, another one bit the dust. Now we must investigate who is responsible for Chase's death. Let's see how David stacks up to his partner in terms of investigating.

Also if you're playing along at home, see if you can guess who the killer is before my characters can! You can submit your answer to me in either your review of this chapter, a PM on Fanfiction, or even sending me a Google Doc detailing your theory on the killer. Anything goes!

Also also, I forgot to mention - my friends Beninja2618 and Weapon X Foxfurry, who inspired me to write this story, have their own killing game fics. Check 'em out, they put a lot of work into their stories!

The Reviews

Nan the Keyblade Master: *salutes* SIR YES SIR!

Magami Kent: Yeah, that's one way to go about it. And yes, the current writing has nothing to do with the boot order. That would just be rude to my late grandfather. He was in the Pacific Theater during WWII. (And it's okay.)

Siege25: Well, I can't say I blame you. I don't think anyone here can. Only thing I can do now is the Blackened paying for their crime.

Mastermind Enoshima Alicia: Thank you, come again.)

 **Chapter 2: Killer in the Mirror (Deadly Life)**

(David)

I immediately jolted out of my seat when I heard the announcement. Another body? I raced down to the gymnasium, wanting to see if Desmond was okay. My hands were shaking as I ran...no, my entire body was trembling with fear. I could only pray this was a sick prank that Monokuma was pulling to make us think that someone else had died to crush our hope.

But when I got there along with the others, I soon found out this was no prank. Chase was really dead, lying there on the ground lifeless. Like the rest of the group, I was shocked to see Chase was the victim this time.

"Chase is dead!?" Jonathan exclaimed.

"No fucking way…" Olivia breathed.

"Why did this have to happen…" Maxwell sighed, looking at the ground.

Robert was doing a headcount of the rest of us when he noticed something off. "Hey guys...where's Maddie?" He was right. Maddie wasn't anywhere to be found among us...but then we saw someone wander out towards us, sporting a few bruises - it was Maddie.

"Maddie!? What happened to you!?" Ronnie asked in alarm. As Street went to check on Maddie's injuries, I instantly rushed over to Desmond to see if he was okay and find out from Brooke what happened.

"Desmond, are you okay?" I asked with concern masked in my voice. Dammit...I couldn't help but worry about him.

"Yeah, I'll live…" Desmond answered. "I got shoved out of the way of...something." He took off his hat, fixing it. "I think if I didn't have my hat on, I might've been in a much worse condition."

"No kidding…" I turned to Brooke. "You found him unconscious out here?"

Brooke nodded quickly. "Mhm...I was super scared that Desey wouldn't wake up! And...Chasey, he's...he's…"

"I know, Brooke," I told her in a low voice. "I know." Monokuma then appeared in front of us.

"Upupupupu! Well now, it's that time again!" He gleefully stated.

"Wait...we have to go through that again?" Thomas asked.

"Ha, like you wouldn't know it when you see it, Union Jack!" Monokuma taunted. "We got another corpse, which means we hold another Class Trial!"

Brooke looked down at her feet, feeling blue. Our ElectroIDs buzzed, seeing a new Monokuma File was added to the collection - Monokuma File #2. I quickly opened that up to see what we were dealing with this time.

"The victim was Chase Adams, the Ultimate Marine. Time of death is estimated to be 9:05 A.M., and the body was discovered outside the weight room in the gymnasium. The cause of death was blunt force trauma that severed the victim's upper spinal cord and brain stem, causing death instantaneously. There were no other injuries on the victim's body." The Monokuma File read.

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Monokuma File #2**

A severed spinal cord and brain stem...yeesh. That's a painful way to go out. I looked at the time on my ElectroID, since that was a function. It was 9:20 A.M. now...

Suddenly, I had my train of thought interrupted by a voice.

"You...you did this!" Maddie was pointing accusingly at Desmond.

"What? No, no you've gotta be kidding…" Desmond held up his hands defensively, panicked from this sudden accusation.

"You were the last person seen with Chase alive, right? You killed him...and then you attacked me!" Maddie continued. "I saw you attack Chase! Then you tried attacking me when you found out I witnessed the murder."

"What are you talking about, it wasn't me!" Desmond exclaimed.

"It does make you suspicious, Desmond…" Ronnie added with a glare. "But why would you kill someone like Chase?"

"Desey did not, you're just a dummy!" Brooke shouted. Everyone else was either indifferent to this shouting match or involved for Desmond or against him.

Before this could escalate further, another voice brought order to the situation.

"Enough!" Maxwell exclaimed. "Shouting at each other isn't going to resolve anything. Chase wouldn't want us to do this."

"He wouldn't?" Maddie asked. "How would you know?"

"I've known him for long enough to determine that," Maxwell answered. "And I know what Chase would really want to do is find his killer."

"Right. As much as I know you all don't want to do this, we have to investigate once again," I agreed.

"He's got a point," Melissa said. "Our necks are on the line here. Again." She looked deep in thought about something. I'd have to ask her about that later.

"I'll take Maddie to get her injuries treated. If you'll excuse us…" Street escorted Maddie to the nurse's office, leaving everyone to break off and start looking for clues. I turned to Desmond.

"David...you gotta believe me, right?" Desmond asked with pleading eyes. "If they convict me, we're all gonna die!"

I firmly gripped Desmond's shoulder before he could continue making a scene. "Calm down, Desmond. You already know I believe in you. Just tell me what happened."

"Okay...Chase and I were coming down to the weight room to work out before our match with you, yeah? I just thought I'd agree because I wanted to spend time with him," Desmond explained. "I go to open up the door, and the next thing I know, Chase shouts 'Get out of the way!' really loudly, and shoves me aside. I hit my head on the floor, and I was out like a light. I don't know how long I was out for, but when I woke up, Brooke was trying to shake me awake, and then she pointed over at...Chase's body…"

"I see…" I folded my arms. "I'm sorry to say Desmond, but until I have evidence that proves you innocent, I have to consider you a suspect. I can't let you be my partner investigating. Nothing against you. It's merely protocol."

Desmond sighed. "I know…"

"What's protocol, Davey?" Brooke looked at me with curious eyes. I could tell from her facial expression she wasn't going to let this slip go. I looked around to make sure no one was listening to us before responding.

"Promise me you won't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you." I requested.

Brooke nodded, holding out her right pinky finger. "Pinky swear," She said. Once we 'pinky swore' on this, I filled her in on the truth regarding my occupation. Brooke was innocent enough to where I could tell she wouldn't be lying to me about keeping a secret. If she did, it would be painfully obvious.

"My title is actually the Ultimate Medical Examiner. I work with the IMPD," I whispered. "The police."

"Oh…" Brooke whispered back. "What's a medical examiner?"

"I look at dead people," I bluntly informed. "My job is to determine how individuals died."

"...Oh…" Brooke frowned at that explanation. "Okay…" She closed her eyes for a brief moment. "Can I help you then, Davey? I wanna prove Desey's not the killer!"

I gave her a brief nod. "Certainly, Brooke. I want to prove Desmond's innocence too. I must warn you however, that we have to be impartial. Basically, we can't be hellbent on that belief when investigating. Whatever outcome we come to, that's the truth we have to accept." I paused, remembering something. "Oh yes, Desmond. You can still be with us, but Brooke, I need you to watch him like a hawk."

"Huh? But why?" Brooke asked confused.

"We have to keep an eye on suspects to ensure they don't mess with evidence," I explained.

"Okay," Brooke agreed.

"At least it's Brooke keeping an eye on me...she's someone we can trust," Desmond sighed with relief.

"Right." I held my ElectroID in my left hand. "Let's get to work."

 **Investigation Start!**

First order of business is to examine the victim's body. I need to confirm if the Monokuma File is correct, or if there's anything that Monokuma missed intentionally. We walked over to see Michael reading from his Bible, reading Chase his last rites. I waited for Michael to finish before I spoke to him.

"Anyone else willing to examine Chase's body?" I asked.

"No...it's not that we shouldn't, it's just that I don't know if I'd be good at it," Michael answered.

"I did it last time. Let me do it," I offered.

"By all means, David. Best of luck to you." Before Michael left, Desmond did have one remark for Michael.

"Michael...do you really think I killed Chase?" Desmond asked.

"...I honestly don't know if you did or not," Michael answered. "Whatever decision you all come up with, I will go along with it and read the killer's last rites just like I did Chelsea."

"Thanks, I guess," Desmond said before Michael went off to go help the others. Brooke turned to me as I kneeled down to Chase's body.

"Okay, so what do we do?" She asked me.

"You just let me examine the body," I instructed. "I want you to go into the weight room and try to find anything that was used as a weapon. Can you do that for me?"

"Mhm! I'll do it!" With that, Brooke went inside the weight room to start searching, leaving me to examine Chase's body with Desmond standing by.

The Monokuma File stated that the cause of death was due to blunt force trauma that severed not just the spinal cord, but the brain stem as well. I felt along the back of his neck to confirm this, beginning to visualize the moment when the wound was created. This was the power my father claimed I had, the ability to recreate wounds in my mind to understand how they were created, and what created them. It's helped out in numerous criminal cases.

There was a definite break along the first four cervical vertebrae, which is where the bruise was - on the right side of his neck reaching around to the backside, there was a dark red mark that looked like a round shaped object had made contact with the victim. But for this injury to have been created, I can safely confirm this wasn't made by a human swinging the murder weapon at Chase. This force had to be artificially created.

Further proving my theory was the lack of any sort of defensive wounds on Chase's body. If his killer really did attack him directly, Chase would have no doubt fought back, and have some sort of defensive wounds to prove it.

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: David's Autopsy Report**

There was also something in his pants pocket - it looked like a scrap of paper. Quickly fishing it out, I pocketed the scrap of paper in my duster. I made a mental reminder to examine it later.

"Davey! I found something!" Brooke called from within the weight room. Having finished my examination of the body, I went inside to see what Brooke had found.

"What is it, Brooke?" I inquired.

"There's this dumbbell that looks weird...I tried to move it, but it's too heavy for me," Brooke informed, pointing to the dumbbell in question. I was careful not to move it, so I lifted the dumbbells to the left and right of it out of the way to better examine the one in question.

The dumbbell itself was unremarkable, since the fatal wound didn't draw blood from Chase. However, the shape of the dumbbell matched the wound on Chase's neck perfectly - the round shape was consistent with the bruise, so I was confident we had our murder weapon.

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Weight Room Dumbbell**

There was something else on the dumbbell that Brooke was quick to point out to me. On the handle was an unusual red substance that looked like it was scratched on there - not intentionally, but accidentally.

"Is this what you were talking about, Brooke?" I asked her, pointing out the red substance.

"Yeah, that was what got my eye," Brooke answered. "I think someone might've scratched themselves lifting it."

"That is a possibility, yes," I agreed. I didn't have any luminol or a UV light to test if it was blood or not, but it was something I had to keep in the back of my mind.

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Red Substance**

"Hey...what's that stuff?" Brooke pointed to something. Behind one of the equipment racks was an assortment of parts that didn't look like they belonged in a weight room.

"Whatever this was originally, it sure is out of place in a weight room," I commented, examining the parts; wooden boards and metal piping. While they had holes in them to evidence screws being used, there were no screws to be found.

"Hmm...what could it be, Davey?" Brooke wondered.

"That's what I want to know," I answered. "Hmm...I think I've seen these materials in the shop class. Likely where the killer got these." If these were from the shop class, then it confirms my theory that the killer used a contraption to generate the force needed to kill. But where did they set up the contraption?

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Shop Class Materials**

As we continued to search the weight room, we would see Olivia in the room with us, looking up at the ceiling in front of the entrance.

"Something bothering you, Olivia?" I asked her.

"Well, aside from the obvious deceased member of our military on the ground there, yes. Something is bothering me," Olivia answered. "I think there's something up there that might be related to the case."

Brooke and I looked up to where Olivia was. It was only after a few seconds of looking that we saw what she was referring to. Small holes in the ceiling that looked about as big as screws...how interesting.

"So is it relevant or not, man?" Olivia asked.

"Yes, Olivia. In fact, it's very relevant," I responded. "Relevant to how the killer was able to kill Chase."

"Huh. Didn't really expect that...but I guess it's the only way to take the big man out," Olivia said. "Hope we find the bi-" She stopped herself seeing Brooke with me. "Excuse my language...but I do hope we find the person responsible."

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Ceiling Holes**

The mood was broken when we heard Desmond's voice.

"What the...what the hell is this!?" He exclaimed.

"Desey?" Brooke immediately rushed out of the weight room to where Desmond was. "What's wrong?" I rushed out there with her, and Desmond was looking at the tops of his hands.

"Why are my hands all bruised?" Desmond asked in astonishment.

"Do they feel sore?" I then asked. He paused, clenching and unclenching his hands into fists.

"No...that's why it's strange. Normally you'd be in pain over bruising like this," Desmond informed.

"Hmm...I still want to look at the back of your head, Desmond. See if there's anything there for me to examine." I turned to Brooke. "Brooke, can you wait outside the boy's locker room for me?"

"Okay!" Brooke obliged with a smile. So Desmond and I went inside the boy's locker room, where we stood before of a mirror behind of a pair of sinks. Desmond removed his hat and faced the mirror, allowing me to look at the back of his head.

"Alright Desmond, just hold still for me…" I kindly requested, allowing my emotions to show to set his mind at ease. After a little while of feeling the back of his head, Desmond started visibly wincing.

"Ow ow ow ow ow...yup, I hit my head alright," He said.

"Guess that proves your story of being pushed," I concluded. "As for the marks on your hands…" I examined Desmond's hands next. "It's strange how you seem to have bruises on your hands, but yet you don't feel pain in your hands."

"Yeah, my head is hurting more than my hands for sure," Desmond replied. The marks on Desmond's hands would indicate that he's been in a fight just like Maddie claimed, however the initial lack of a reaction to pain raises a red flag for me. I'd have to ask Brooke about this for more information when I get the chance, since I don't have any forensic equipment on hand to test these conclusively. She was the one who found Desmond unconscious, after all.

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Desmond's Bruises**

Remembering the note, I had a perfect time to read it, but there was a problem - Desmond was in the room. I needed to read this note in private. So desperate times called for desperate measures.

Crossing my legs, I said to Desmond, "Hey, could you uh...give me some privacy? I really need to use the bathroom...and the closest one are in here…"

"Huh? Oh sure, I'll wait outside with Brooke," Desmond agreed. Grabbing his hat and placing it back on his head, Desmond left the locker room, giving me the privacy I needed once I knew he was gone for sure.

I fished out the scrap of paper from my duster pocket, and opened it up, seeing that it was folded once. It was a note. The note read, "'Hey Chase, I want to hang out with you tomorrow. Think we can make it happen? -Desmond'"

"Hmm…" I put a hand to my chin, thinking about this. While they were on the same team, I don't really see what these two would have to do together. This was another red flag to me. Did Desmond even write this? I would need to get a handwriting sample from him to be certain.

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Note**

I pocketed the note and left the locker room, meeting up with Desmond and Brooke outside.

"You good?" Desmond asked.

"Yeah, I'm good now. There's one place in particular I want to investigate," I answered. "The shop class. The materials the killer used to make the murder weapon came from there. I wanted to see if our killer left any souvenirs for us to find."

"Let's go!" Brooke cheered. On our way to the shop class, we passed by the nurse's office - Street was standing outside, seemingly waiting for us.

"Ah, David. Just the person I wanted to talk to," Street greeted, waving to Brooke. "Helping out David, aren't we Brooke?"

"Mhm! I'm being super helpful, Streety!" Brooke beamed, running over to hug her.

"What did you want to speak with me about?" I asked.

"It's about Maddie. She's been acting...unusual," Street explained. "I go to get an ice pack for her bruises, but she didn't want me putting it on her. So I gave her the ice pack to apply on her own bruises, then told me she wanted to be left alone. After I gave her a pair of painkiller pills and a glass of water, here I am."

"That does seem weird…" I thought aloud.

"Maybe she just wants to be alone because of the loss of Chase," Desmond suggested.

"I don't know what's up with her, but I want to say something about you, Desmond," Street continued. "You, taking on Chase in a straight fight? Yeah, good luck with that, you'd be picking your teeth up off the floor in ten seconds straight. You're not the kind of person to go around instigating fights based on what I know of you."

"Uh...does that mean you don't believe I'm the killer?" Desmond asked.

"The possibility still exists...but I have my doubts," Street answered. "I just don't see you being able to hurt a fly. I believe in you...but if you killed him..."

"We'll be going now. Thank you. Come along, Brooke!" I said. This testimony sounded important - I don't know why, but it's merely my police instincts talking here.

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Street's Testimony**

We headed on down to the shop class next, mainly to confirm a few things. Inside were Melissa, Thomas, and Michael.

"Seems like we weren't the only ones to notice the materials from here in the weight room, Brooke," I noted.

"Oi, David!" Thomas called. "What're you doin' here?"

"I found supplies that came from the shop class," I explained. "We were merely looking around."

"Gotcha. Well, I haven't found much anything that would help much, except something weird I saw last night," Thomas said. "It happened a little after the nighttime announcement. I was just leaving the gymnasium when I saw someone carrying a portable power drill inside."

A drill, you say? "Did you see who it was?" I asked.

"Nah, I didn't get a good look at the bloke. All I saw was their hand carrying the drill," Thomas explained. "I just thought 'Maybe they're trying to find a way out and need a drill?', so I went back to my room and thought nothing of it afterwards."

"I see...thanks anyway," I told Thomas. "We're gonna look around now, if you don't mind." So someone went into the gym with a handheld power drill last night...where did the drill go, anyway? We might be able to find more evidence if we got our hands on the drill. Trace evidence, fingerprints if we're lucky, and maybe more.

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Thomas' Testimony**

"You know, I was just telling these boys that might be our killer," Melissa chimed in. "It is true the last person seen at the crime scene is the most suspicious individual."

"Yeah yeah, it basically means the police focus on them first," Michael commented. "We got the memo." Oh buddy, you have no idea who you're talking to.

"I'm tellin ya, this bloke isn't a fucking amatuer," Thomas responded. "I think the killer would know that."

"Which is why we can't underestimate them," I commented, looking around the shop class. I found where the screws were kept - in a cubby on one of the workstations, I noticed that they were separated by types - square, Phillips, a combination of the first two, and slotted screws. I couldn't prove exactly that this is where the screws that were used in the murder, since the killer could've easily hidden them somewhere. Either on their person or in a compartment like a locker or a desk drawer.

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Screws**

After looking around for a bit longer, I confirmed my suspicions that the supplies used in the murder came from this room. There wasn't much else I could do, but I noticed that Melissa had her notebook on her. If I wanted to get a handwriting sample from Desmond, now would be the perfect time.

"Hey Melissa...could I borrow a piece of paper?" I asked.

"Oh? Why sure," Melissa agreed, gently tearing a sheet of paper out for me.

"What do you need paper for, David?" Desmond asked me.

"Well, I wanted to ask you something, Desmond...I'm a fan of your singing. Can I have your autograph?" I suddenly requested.

"Uh...sure thing! Do you want me to write you something on it?" Desmond agreed.

"Whatever you want," I answered.

"Sorry for being a bit weirded out here, it's just that, y'know, you're the last guy I expected to give an autograph to." Desmond borrowed Melissa's pencil, and wrote down a little message for me along with his fully legible signature, handing it over to me when it was done. "Here you go, buddy!"

"Thanks Desmond," I thanked, pocketing the autograph after reading it. I recalled what the handwriting of the signature was on the note and the signature on the autograph. They were clearly different, however...if Desmond really is the killer, he could've faked the signature on the note to Chase to throw us off. As much as I didn't want to consider the possibility, I had to.

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Handwriting Sample**

"Melissa, mind if I talk to you?" Desmond asked. "I...really could use some advice on what to do. With you being a consultant on this kind of stuff."

"Of course, Desmond," Melissa agreed. "Excuse us, gentlemen." Melissa and Desmond took their leave of us, with me turning to Brooke.

"If you two find anything else, feel free to say something," I said to Thomas and Michael.

"Will do," Michael agreed. "Best of luck to you, David."

"Later, chap," Thomas waved us off as we went out into the hallway.

"So Brooke, I wanted to ask you about the bruises on Desmond's hands," I told Brooke.

"About his hands? Hmm...well, when he woke up, I remember he rubbed the back of his head," Brooke explained. "He didn't really seem to notice the stuff on his hands."

"'The stuff'...you're talking about the bruises, right?" I asked for clarification.

"Well yeah, but...something just doesn't sit right," Brooke continued. "I don't think Desey hurt his hands at all. If he did, Desey would've said something about it."

"Mmm...that makes sense," I agreed. So if Desmond's hands weren't bothering him, then what is up with the marks on his hands?

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Brooke's Testimony**

"We don't have much time left, Brooke...is there anything else we might've missed? Did we check every lead we could think of?" I asked her.

"Hmm...well, I didn't find any sort of drill Thomas was talking about when we were in the shop class. Maybe the killer hid that as well?" Brooke suggested.

"That would make sense." But I still couldn't shake this thought...what if Desmond really was the killer? And he was just lying to me this whole time?...No, I can't doubt him. He's my partner. I know my police instinct tells me to consider every possibility, but the evidence mounts up to being a really strange case. Then I thought of something, my eyes lighting up. "Come with me, Brooke. There's one more thing we need to check."

"Where to?" Brooke asked.

"The administration office. I need to double check something," I said, heading that way. Brooke followed after me, and once we entered I sat down at the computer to pull up our report cards.

"So what do you need to double check?" Brooke wondered, looking over my shoulder.

"If the killer did make a contraption to kill Chase, then they would need the know-how to make the trap in the first place," I explained. "Ergo, I recall seeing that Desmond took shop class. My question now is, 'Who else took shop class?' That can help us narrow down our suspect list."

"Ah...I see! That's pretty smart, Davey!" Brooke smiled.

As expected of a police chief's son, I told myself. I had to be clever to survive this. Anyway, I checked the report cards of those who were still alive. Among us who took shop class, along with Desmond, were Thomas, Maddie, Jonathan, and Olivia. This information does help narrow down the suspect list, I hope.

 **Truth Bullet Obtained: Student Report Cards**

Once I had logged out, a familiar bell rang four times to signal the end of the investigation.

"Attention students! The investigation period is over! Please report to the kitchen for the Class Trial to begin!" Monokuma's voice rang out.

"Welp...I hope we got everything we needed," Brooke said.

"Yeah...admittedly we're missing a few pieces of the puzzle, but I think I have enough evidence to piece together the truth. I just need to run this all by Desmond…" I replied.

"Huh? Didn't you say Desey was a suspect?" Brooke then asked.

"Suspect or not, Desmond is still my partner. He deserves to know all of the information," I explained. "Now let's go."

"Right!" With a nod, we left the Administration Office to meet up with everyone in the kitchen by the walk in freezer. Everyone once again was present and accounted for.

"A-ha, there you are David!" Ronnie said. "So? Did you find conclusive evidence Desmond's the killer?"

"Shut up!" Desmond exclaimed. "I already told you, I didn't kill him!"

"And I already told you arguing about this isn't going to help," Maxwell interjected. "So quit it."

"I just wanna find out who the killer is already," Olivia huffed, folding her arms. "This killer deserves everything coming their way."

"Oh, yeah...but we already know who they are," Maddie commented. Desmond turned away.

"Don't listen to her, Desey. I still believe in you," Brooke said.

"Thanks for that, Brooke," Desmond smiled. I motioned for Desmond to come over to me.

"While we wait for Monokuma, I'll fill you in on what we found," I whispered, giving him the results of my investigation.

"I see...well, here's hoping we can pin the real killer with this," Desmond said to me.

"That's what I'm hoping for too," I concurred. Still, I couldn't stop considering him a suspect...innocent until proven guilty, that's the rule. I have to stick with it. And I can't let emotions cloud my judgement. A life has been taken today, and someone has to pay the price.

But what kind of motive would anyone have for killing a marine? Don't they know that could wind them up with life or worse? I had more questions than answers when Monokuma showed up.

"Well well well, we're all present and accounted for!" Monokuma chuckled. "So, are you bastards ready to get this party started?"

"I am," Street said neutrally.

"Count me in!" Olivia agreed.

"Never seen you this excited, but sure," Robert added.

"Ready to prove Desey's innocence!" Brooke cheered.

"I'm ready to find the truth of this awful incident," Michael said.

"Let's find the bloke responsible," Thomas continued.

"Ready when you are, Monokuma," Maddie chained the agreements along.

"This killer is going to regret messing with me, Ronnie Patrick!" Ronnie boldly proclaimed.

"...I'm ready," Desmond nodded.

"As am I," I proceeded.

"Let's do this everyone, for Chase!" Jonathan exclaimed.

"I have my arguments ready to go," Melissa mused.

"Don't want to do this...but we've got no other choice. Ready." Maxwell nodded.

"Wow, you people get all excited to put down someone in your army. Surprised Union Jack would care this much but...whatever." Monokuma opened up the elevator for us. "Get in, everyone!"

We all filed in the elevator as it closed behind us once the last person was on. The elevator was noticeably less cramped this time with two less occupants, but the burden of losing them weighed heavily upon us. While we all masked ourselves behind bravado of capturing the killer, I could tell that there was an air of unease within that elevator as it reached its destination.

The courtroom had undergone changes design wise for this trial. For one, the floor looked like a mixture of fine dirt and fauna, with the walls giving off the impression of a Vietnamese jungle. Boxes labelled with military equipment as its contents, bullet casings strewn about the floor, and flood lamps providing light within the courtroom were all seen.

Two new pictures were among the ring of podiums - Chelsea's had a red horseshoe over her picture with the number 2 in the middle of it, and Chase's had a similar colored bald eagle with an olive branch and arrows in its talons, the number 3 on its chest. What was worth noting was that Chase's podium had an American flag draped over it.

"I might not respect you bastards, but I at least have respect for those who are willing to fight and die for a country. Only bigger cause to fight for is despair!" Monokuma said, explaining the flag draped over Chase's podium. "Now get to your podiums, because this Class Trial is about to start!"

Chase Adams...did he die because he was the target, or did he die because he was protecting Desmond? I can't say for sure what his motives were, but I know that he vehemently was against despair, so I can safely rule that out as a possibility. If only he was here to help us when time came to fight the Mastermind...he'll be a hero to me, in my books. But now…

A life has been taken, and someone must pay the price. Someone in this very room murdered our friend, and has his blood on their hands. Someone in this room is fighting for their chance to escape, while the rest of us are fighting for our lives. Let this be an example for any future killers. When you kill...I _will_ find you. I'm ready to start this deadly game, this deadly challenge, this deadly...Class Trial.

(Alright, now that we've got the investigation done, feel free to play at home to guess who the killer is and send me your guesses either via PM on this site, a review, or even a Doc.

Also as an aside question, who do you like more to do the investigations? Desmond Clue, or David Stonebreaker, and why? Let me know in the reviews! Next time, Class Trial!)


	11. Chapter 2 Class Trial Part 1

(Ah sheet, we got another Class Trial underway! Who will be the Blackened this time? Did you guess correctly or incorrectly? We will find out during this super awesome, high octane, totally not boring Class Trial! Did I ever mention I love writing these bad boys? Because I do.

The Reviews

Nan The Keyblade Master: Makeup or marker...will we find out the truth of those bruises in the trial? Yes.

ShadowYoshi442: Alright then, no shame in being secretive about it.

Siege25: I see, I see. Watch and see what happens next, I suppose.

Magami Kent: You wouldn't put it past me to pull a page out of Togami or Kokichi's books eventually, right? (BTW that scene in Chapter 3 of V3 was freaking hilarious. Everyone's reactions to it made it all the better.

JudaiKitsune: For all we know, she could be pulling a Byakuya Togami on us.)

 **Court is now in session!**

 **ALL RISE!**

Monokuma: Now then, let's begin with a simple explanation of the Class Trial! During the Class Trial, you will present your arguments and then vote on whodunnit! If you vote correctly, then only the Blackened will be punished. But if you pick the wrong person...I'll punish everyone besides the Blackened, and that person will earn the right to leave this academy!

Olivia: We heard you the first time, nobody cares!

Monokuma: Alright, fiiiiiiiiiine. Let's just get this trial underway!

Ronnie: Okay, let's get started with the most obvious thing right out of the gate. The most suspicious person is-

Street: Do we really have to start with you, Ferret?

Ronnie: Hey, don't interrupt me! I was just going to say who the most suspicious person was!

Street: And we all know what you're going to say. Right everyone?

Robert: Yeah, that would be Desmond.

Desmond:...I don't know how many times I have to maintain my innocence…

Michael: Desmond was the last person to see Chase alive, so it's only natural he's a suspect. I mean nothing by it man.

Melissa: That much is true, if many true crime shows and my own writings are any indication.

Maxwell: It's not that we want to suspect you, Desmond. We just don't have many other options at the moment.

Desmond: Oh don't worry. No offense taken.

Maddie: Do we really need to discuss anything else? Desmond killed Chase, attacked me, was found unconscious, and that's that.

Thomas: You make it sound so simple, darling…

David: _As I thought. The suspicion is on Desmond due to him being the last person seen with the victim. But I don't believe it's as simple as that. I'll have to make the others see this as well!_

 **Make Your Argument!**

Maxwell: So, let's go over what we know so far…

Olivia: **Chase got murdered,** what else is there to know?

Maddie: And **Desmond was the last person to see him alive.**

Ronnie: So he took a blunt instrument and **smacked Chase silly!**

Desmond: Do you people have any idea how ridiculous that sounds!?

Brooke: Yeah, that's wrong! **Desey's innocent!**

David: That's where you're wrong.

 **Truth Bullet Used: David's Autopsy Report**

 **Break!**

David: On the contrary, Ronnie. I don't think it was possible for Desmond to 'smack Chase silly'.

Ronnie: What makes you say that? Chase died from blunt force.

David: Because I examined the body for more than five seconds. Something I think you can all at least attempt.

Maxwell: Ugh, no thanks...I'll pass.

Michael: What did you find, David?

David: It's true, the Monokuma File does match up with findings. Chase was indeed killed by blunt force...but the severity of his injury, well, it's just not possible for someone to generate that much force.

Street: Agreed...it takes a lot of brute strength to do that kind of damage.

David: Additionally, Chase would've fought back. There's nothing on his body that suggests there was a struggle.

Ronnie: Then...maybe Chase was taken by surprise?

Desmond: Seriously, stop it. I don't even like gym class!

Maddie: Okay, so what?

Desmond: Maddie, I can't even lift the damn bar meant for the girls. How could I possibly generate enough force to do _that_ to Chase!?

Melissa: Might I suggest we focus on how the murder was committed instead? We're only wasting time by talking about currently trivial matters.

Desmond: Thank you.

David: _Agreed. Focusing on how the murder was committed is the key here, not who committed the murder. Not yet, at any rate._

 **Make Your Argument!**

Melissa: Let's start from how the fatal blow was dealt to Chase.

Thomas: We know **a blunt object killed that bloke.** What else?

Jonathan: For someone to generate that force... **you'd have to be a machine!**

Maddie: The murder weapon also couldn't have gone far from the crime scene.

Robert: Yeah. **They probably dumped it** somewhere in the gymnasium. That's the only place they could.

Melissa: Mhmhmhmhm...how interesting.

David: Agreed.

 **Truth Bullet Used: Shop Class Materials**

 **Break!**

David: Jonathan...your statement there was right on the money.

Jonathan: It was? How so?

David: There's no possible way for a human to naturally generate the force needed to deliver the blow that killed Chase. You'd need a contraption for that.

Brooke: And I pointed out to Davey a bunch of stuff from the shop class hidden in the weight room! I was super helpful, everyone!

David: Indeed you were. I assert the killer used these materials to create the contraption that killed Chase.

Ronnie: I see...but there's one question I have about that.

David: _And what might that be?_

Ronnie: Someone would've noticed an obvious trap lying in wait, David. How'd the killer even set it up?

Maddie: Yeah, anyone would've been able to see such a trap just sitting there.

Desmond: Please tell me you have an answer, David…

Brooke: We should, Desey. It was something we noticed earlier, Davey. It was pointed out to us, remember?

David: _Yes, the killer was able to hide the trap from anyone who would try and peek in. And this is our evidence of that._

 **Truth Bullet Used: Ceiling Holes**

David: Here.

David: There were holes in the weight room ceiling, right in front of the door.

Olivia: Oh yeah, I did point that out to you two...what about them?

David: The wooden boards had holes in them, about the size of screws. The holes in the ceiling matched the size of the holes in the boards.

Maxwell: So you're saying the culprit hung the trap from the ceiling? That's just...wow. I never would've thought about that!

Street:...Really?

Maxwell: I mean, if you'd want to set up a trap, you'd want to make it simple, right?

Olivia: But the killer went balls to the wall on this trap. They must've really wanted Chase dead!

Desmond:...Can we really say Chase was the intended victim?

Ronnie: What?

Desmond: Well, at least let me testify my side of the story, and we can get this trial moving along!

Michael: Very well. The floor is yours, Desmond.

Desmond: Okay...I got asked by Chase if he wanted to work out, so I agreed. I didn't think anything of it, so we're walking to the weight room, I go to open the door, then suddenly Chase shouts 'Get out of the way!', and shoves me hard enough to where I hit my head on the ground, and boom. I'm out cold. Next thing I know, Brooke is shaking me awake, and...I saw Chase's body…

Maxwell: I see...so that's your side of the story. Alright, good buddy.

Desmond: So yes, I was the last person to see Chase alive. That doesn't mean I'm the killer!

Thomas: So you're saying you were asked to go to the weight room by Chase, he saw something, shoved you out of the way, and then he was killed? Did I get that right?

Desmond: Yeah, that's about what happened.

Thomas: That might be the case, but it doesn't change the fact Chase was killed indirectly. This doesn't automatically make you innocent.

Desmond: W-What!?

Street: And we're right back where we started...lovely.

Brooke: Maybe we're just overthinking this, everyone. Let's calm down!

Maddie: How can we be calm, Brooke? Our necks are on the line here.

Brooke: I might not be able to do hard math, but I'm smart enough to know that!

Robert: Then let me ask something - if Desmond really is the killer, how'd he get the trap affixed in the first place?

Olivia: Didn't we just say it was the screws?

Robert: No, no. I'm talking about what he used to get the materials from shop class up there.

Ronnie: We all did get a toolkit from Monokuma...that came with a screwdriver, right? Couldn't he just use that?

Desmond: I've never opened my toolkit once ever since we got here.

Street: There'd be obvious evidence for us to find if Desmond used his toolkit. You can't possibly be that stupid, Ferret.

Ronnie: Not sure whether to be complimented or insulted...so I'll be both! I am very complinsulted by that, Street!

Brooke: Is that even a word?

Melissa: He just made it up on the spot, Brooke. Just ignore him.

David: _There is one way to get the screws up there...and someone here knows how to._

 **Make Your Argument!**

Ronnie: Who put the trap up there and how'd they do it? I'd answer myself, but I'll let you guys take this one.

Melissa: Well, they **didn't use their toolkit…**

Jonathan: Maybe they **used something in the weight room** to do it!

Michael: We don't have security camera access... **no one saw someone go in or out of the gym.**

Olivia: I bet it's Monokuma's doing! The killer just asked him and **he did it for them!**

Street: Whatever they used, we couldn't find it investigating…

David: That's where you're wrong.

 **Truth Bullet Used: Thomas' Testimony**

 **Break!**

David: Actually Michael, we do have an eyewitness. Right, Thomas?

Thomas: Yeah, I did see one of you Yanks go in the gymnasium last night!

Ronnie: You did? Why didn't you say anything earlier?

Thomas: Because you never asked me, you wanker!

David: Alright, let's….move on before Brooke starts repeating British insults. Thomas stated last night he saw someone go into the gymnasium with a portable power drill.

Thomas: I never did get a good look at 'em, all I saw was their hand and the drill. If anything the bloke used the drill to put the screws in place.

Maddie: That does make sense…

Desmond: And besides, if you did it without a power tool, you'd be working so long by the time your trap is place, someone might already see you walking out of the weight room, and the trap would be ruined.

Melissa: I see...so they used a power tool to speed things along and set the trap in motion before that became a problem.

Robert: Okay, so what became of the drill?

Olivia: We couldn't find that drill anywhere in the school...no doubt the killer dumped it somewhere we couldn't find it!

Brooke: We also couldn't find the screws they used, either...this killer was pretty good on cleaning up.

David: The time of death was 9:05 A.M., and we discovered the body around 9:20 A.M., therefore the killer only had 15 minutes to clean up, Brooke.

Brooke: I know, that's why they were good!

Jonathan: Don't compliment the killer!

Robert: So it's like I said earlier. The killer dumped the screws and drill somewhere in the gymnasium.

Olivia: Hmm...there's something on my mind…

Maxwell: Oh? And what would that be?

Olivia: Thomas. You were the only one to see the drill enter the gymnasium, right?

Thomas: Yeah...what're you suggesting?

Olivia: Well, it's just a thought but maybe...maybe you had something to do with this?

Thomas: Oh...I get it. You're accusin' me because I don't have a high opinion of you Yanks. Well lemme tell you something, pillock. I'm not the killer.

Maddie: But you're the only one who saw the drill go in the gymnasium, right?

Street: Weren't you just accusing Desmond earlier?

Maddie: I'm not accusing Thomas of anything. I'm only stating a fact.

Melissa: Yeah, an obvious fact…

David: _It seems we've hit a snag...we need to clear up anything regarding this sudden accusation, now. Otherwise we're going to get nowhere on this case fast._

 **Make Your Argument!**

Olivia: Because Thomas was the only one to see the drill... **maybe he knows where it went.**

Thomas: **I only saw the drill,** I never touched it.

Melissa: The drill wasn't the only thing that went missing. **Thomas would know where those went as well.**

Olivia: What do you mean by 'those'?

Melissa: We were just talking about them. You should know what I'm referring to.

Brooke: Um...hmm…

David: Agreed.

 **Truth Bullet Used: Screws**

 **Break!**

David: Let's assume that Thomas is indeed the killer. Melissa has a point about him knowing where 'those' went as well.

Brooke: What're you talking about with 'those'?

David: Remember how there were small holes in the trap's materials, but no screws?

Melissa: Precisely. The killer had only enough time to hide the smaller components of their crime - those being the portable drill, and the screws. The screws could be hidden inside their pockets, and no one would notice.

Desmond: And the drill would have to be hidden somewhere else inside the gymnasium, just like Robert was saying.

Maddie: But wouldn't the killer hide the screws with the drill? If the killer put the screws in their pocket, that would be the smoking gun we'd need.

David: _Where could the drill and screws be hidden, if not on the killer's person…?_

 _-The weight room_

 _-The bleachers_

 _ **-The locker rooms**_

David: Here.

David: The only possible location I can think of would be the locker rooms in the gymnasium.

Maddie: The locker room? Why?

David: The killer only had about 15 minutes to clean up after their crime. Time of death was 9:05 this morning according to the Monokuma File, and the body discovery announcement went off at around 9:20.

Michael: Additionally, the killer would have ran the risk of being caught if they tried to return the drill and screws to the shop class.

Melissa: Which leaves the logical conclusion that the drill and screws were hidden in the locker rooms.

Desmond: But without the drill and screws, we can't really narrow down our list of suspects…

Monokuma: By the way, I'm not letting you bastards have any recesses, so don't bother asking for any!

David: _Once again, we have to figure out things on our own. Shouldn't be a problem for me. Now let's think here about how we can get a clearer image on this case…_

 **Make Your Argument!**

Jonathan: There's gotta be something we can use to help eliminate suspects.

Michael: **Were there any other witnesses?**

Ronnie: **Any other evidence** we don't have currently?

Robert: I think **we're missing alibis** , personally.

Brooke: Recess sounds like a fun idea! I wanna go on the swings!

Thomas: We don't have any swings here, Brooke...

David: Agreed.

 **Truth Bullet Used: Student Report Cards**

 **Break!**

David: There is some evidence we haven't considered yet, Ronnie. I found some during the investigation that might help us.

Ronnie: You did? That's great, David! Mind telling the others?

David: I went into the Administration Office just before the announcement for the investigation period ending. There's a computer which has our report cards on it.

Desmond: Oh yeah...I remember seeing that too. What about them?

David: For such a contraption to be made, you would need to have the knowledge to create such a thing, right?

Maxwell: I see. So whoever has that experience is a suspect, right?

David: Correct. Those who have taken shop class are Desmond, Thomas, Maddie, Jonathan, and Olivia.

Maddie: See? He does have the know-how to kill!

Desmond: Dammit...back to where we started again, eh David?

David:...

Brooke: But wait. Robey did have a point about missing evidence. There was something in Chasey's pocket, but it went missing too. Did the killer take it too?

David: I have it right here. In my duster pocket.

Robert: Why're you hiding evidence from us, David? Can you at least tell us what the thing is?

David: _That something in Chase's pocket...well, it was obviously this._

 **Truth Bullet Used: Note**

David: Here.

David: This scrap of paper was in Chase's pocket, which turned out to be a note.

Melissa: Mind reading it to the rest of us? If you could be so kind.

David: The note reads 'Hey Chase, I want to hang out with you tomorrow. Think we can make it happen? -Desmond'

Ronnie: So Desmond wanted to meet up with Chase today...how interesting.

Desmond: N-No way! It's not what it looks like!

Maddie: You wrote a note to Chase, had the knowledge to set up the trap...looks to me like the curtain's closing in on you, Desmond.

Desmond: Seriously! I didn't send him that note!

Brooke:...Mmph...

David: _...Dammit! All of this is looking bad for Desmond...I gotta do something fast. If I don't, they'll convict him at this rate!_

 **Make Your Argument!**

Desmond: **I didn't send Chase that note!**

Maddie: But the name of the sender is perfectly legible.

Street: I have my doubts about this... **could that have been planted?**

Michael: Is there any way to know for sure? We shouldn't be jumping to conclusions like this.

Maddie: What else do we need to know? **Desmond used that note to lure Chase to the crime scene!**

Brooke: Stop...stop being so mean…

Maxwell: Oh Brooke...please don't cry...

David: That's where you're wrong.

 **Truth Bullet Used: Handwriting Sample**

 **Break!**

David: Can we really be sure that's what Desmond intended to do?

Maddie: Huh? But isn't it obvious? It's right there on the note.

David: I'm aware of that, but I have a way to know for sure.

Desmond: Wait a...David, what are you talking about?

David: Remember when I asked you for an autograph?

Thomas: What're you trying to pull here, bloke?

David: By comparing this autograph to the message on the note, we can determine if Desmond wrote this note or not. Melissa, would you mind doing that for me?

Melissa: Of course, David. One moment.

Desmond: David...that was your plan all along, wasn't it?

David: I needed to know for sure, Desmond. Street very well may be right on this, that note could've been planted in an effort to frame you.

Street: Even though Desmond is in no way a good fall guy for any crime. Just putting that out there. In fact...that might not be the full extent of it.

Maddie: What do you mean?

Street: I'll explain once Melissa is done comparing those two handwriting samples. Are you done yet?

Melissa: Just about, and...done!

Jonathan: Well Melissa? What's the verdict?

Melissa: If the killer was trying to frame Desmond with this...well, these handwriting samples don't match at all. I'm almost positive that the writer of the note to Chase is someone else.

Maddie: Huh!?

Olivia: So wait, that means...

David: Just as I thought.

Ronnie: Why do you say 'almost positive'? Was it a ploy used in one of your books?

Melissa: Pretty much, yes. One villain forged a note in an attempt to frame a suspect. But in that instance, it was planted on the suspect's person instead of the victim. Granted, the contents were different.

Robert: So as long as that possibility exists, we can't dismiss Desmond writing that note, yeah?

Melissa: That's right, but the possibility is so miniscule, I'd sooner dismiss it. This note indicates to me this was a frame-up job. By whom, I'm not sure.

Street: If I may continue my train of thought, Melissa?

Melissa: Oh, where are my manners? Go right ahead, Street.

Street: Answer me truthfully here Desmond, otherwise I'll beat it out of you. You were not aware of the trap placed in the weight room, right?

Desmond: Yeah. I wasn't aware of the note either. And...y-you don't have to threaten me with violence, either.

Street: Sorry about that...anyway, the reason I ask is because Chase pushed you out of the way of the trap. Unless you were aware of the trap...Chase wasn't the intended victim at all. You were.

Desmond: The killer was trying...to me!? But why!?

Olivia: Holy shit…!

Brooke: No...that can't be true! Desey didn't have any enemies!

Street: But in the end, the one thing that would ruin their plan got in the way. Chase shoved you out of the way, and died to protect you. That's what I think of this case, at any rate.

Desmond: I...I just don't understand…

Maddie: There's still questions we don't have the answers for. Desmond is still a suspect.

Michael: Look, I get that, but...is one fake note enough to prove that Desmond is innocent?

Ronnie: I know Melissa said the possibility was small, but as long as it exists...Desmond very well could've written differently to throw us off.

Jonathan: That is...admittedly true.

Melissa: And you're doubting my look at the handwriting? Any of you could look at this handwriting, and you can safely see that they're different!

Brooke: You guys...stop fighting…

David: _Brooke looks like she's about to cry...I can't say I blame her. She's been so close to Desmond, the possibility of him being a suspect must be a bitter pill to swallow. I can say the same...but I promised myself something, when I first got here...no crying until the end._

Maxwell: Everyone, please calm down! Michael was right, we can't jump to conclusions here.

Desmond: Brooke, I promise you. Everything's going to be okay.

Maddie: We'll be the judges of that.

Brooke: S-Stop it! Stop being mean to Desey!

Desmond:...

Brooke: I...I've know Desey better than anyone else here. I know that Desey wouldn't do this to Chasey! He wouldn't do this to anyone! And here you all are...with your 'what if' things and 'probabilities'...it doesn't mean anything to me!

Maddie: But Brooke, Desmond very well could be the culprit. We can't hold on to these friendships in times like this.

Brooke: Forget that! Desey's my friend, and I know what kind of person he is! So, so that's why...as long I'm standing here, I'm not gonna stop believing in him!

Desmond: _...Oh Brooke...I'm sorry things had to turn out this way. I should've said something earlier to Chase. This whole thing might have been avoided if I did that. But he gave his life for me, so...I have to step up and find who really murdered him. There's got to be something...anything that I can use to get out of the hot seat. But what?_

 **Trial Suspended**

(Monokuma: Upupupupu...I love the smell of despair in the morning!

Flash: You love it more than coffee- aaaaand you're in my room again.

Monokuma: Aw come on, don't act like you're not happy to see me. Everyone loves me!

Flash: Really. I beg to differ. Alicia likes kicking you as if you're a football.

Monokuma: And I should care why?

Flash: Because I'm going to do the same to you. Go the hell away, dammit! *kicks Monokuma out* Ugh, I don't know how he keeps showing up...anyway, that's Part 1 of this Class Trial. Next time, we'll see if this case goes anywhere from here. Bye for now!)


	12. Chapter 2 Class Trial Part 2

(I hope you're all ready for the second half of this trial, because I know I am! To those who made their guesses - were you right, or were you wrong? Guess we'll find out now!

Also in this chapter, we'll see italicized Weak Points. What do these mean? Well...you'll see soon. Real soon.

...Okay, I'll tell you what it's all about. It's Desmond's ability, Perfect Pitch! You'll have to read on to see how it works in action.

The Reviews

Mastermind Enoshima Alicia: Yes, I know you had to do that. And this is becoming a running joke for the trials, so yeah. I'm sticking with them.

Siege25: She does seem convinced Desmond committed the murder, even in the face of evidence that would clear his name...how interesting.

Nan The Keyblade Master: I'm surprised you haven't strangled him yet for the first time Brooke time lawl.)

 **Trial Resume**

David: Maddie did bring up a valid point - there are still questions we need to find the answer to. And until we solve those mysteries, we can't vote for a culprit.

Brooke: Y-Yeah…

Desmond: _David's right, we can't draw a conclusion without there still being questions regarding this case. But I need to get this heat off me somehow…_

Brooke: Desey...there's gotta be something you can do. It doesn't matter...just figure out how to stop these mean accusations...and throw it back!

Desmond: _As much as I want to Brooke, there's only so much I can do with the info we have! Maybe...maybe I have to think outside the box here...but how?_

 **Make Your Argument!**

Olivia: So what should we talk about next?

Maddie: Anything to _put this killer in the ground where he belongs…_

Ronnie: Does he **have any motive** to do this kind of thing?

Brooke: How many times do I gotta say it? **Desey's innocent!**

David: You got anything else you haven't told us, Desmond?

Maxwell: There's **obviously something we're overlooking** here!

Street: _This whole thing is utterly stupid…_

Desmond: You're out of key!

 **Break!**

Desmond: _...What was that I heard just now? I know I heard joy in Maddie's voice...yeah, there's no mistaking it. I've got a good ear for music, a real damn good ear. I know damn well she's lying about me assaulting her...but we haven't been able to catch her yet. But maybe I can use this to my advantage..._

Maddie: Hey Desmond, I think you've got the wrong catchphrase here.

Desmond: No, it's just a new catchphrase I came up with. That's not important. What is important is what you just said right now.

Maddie: What? What did I say that was so important?

Desmond: Well, you said 'Anything to put this killer in the ground where he belongs'. You looked pretty angry when you were saying it...but your voice told me another story.

Ronnie: Her voice? What about her voice?

Desmond: Maddie sounded happy when she said that. There's a clear discrepancy here, so I have to ask...why are you so happy about sending me to my death?

Maddie: Huh? Uh...well, I don't want to be here as much as the rest of you. The sooner we sentence the Blackened, the sooner we can get out of this courtroom.

Desmond: _You hesitated there...I've got you now._

Michael: So...David, what question do you suppose we start with?

David: The question I want to start with is regarding Maddie's assault.

Desmond: Yeah, we really should clear that up. Before we get dizzy talking in circles.

David: _I need to make it clear to everyone there's no way Desmond could've assaulted Maddie - beyond any shadow of reasonable doubt._

 **Make Your Argument!**

Maxwell: Care to tell us exactly how you were assaulted, Maddie? Desmond's **not the kind of guy to go doing this...**

Maddie: It was after Chase was killed...I walked in on Desmond standing over his body.

Desmond: But **Chase pushed me out of the way!**

Maddie: You could be lying!

Jonathan: We get it, just keep going.

Maddie: Desmond spotted me as I went to warn you guys...and **started punching me repeatedly.**

Ronnie: He wanted you to stay quiet?

Maddie: Yeah, then I knocked him out after we fought. That's exactly what happened.

David: That's where you're wrong.

 **Truth Bullet Used: Desmond's Bruises**

 **Break!**

David: I wonder if I might get a word in, Maddie.

Maddie: What is it now…?

David: For someone to have that kind of bruising on their hands after punching you that much without some form of protective wear...surely their hands would hurt, right?

Street: Yeah, they would. Without gloves or hand wraps you run the risk of breaking the bones in your hands and wrists. It's why I prefer to fight with kicks if I can help it.

Robert: And since Desmond doesn't wear gloves, his hands would be in a lot of pain, right?

David: That's the thing, Robert - they're not in pain.

Ronnie: They're not? How can you be so sure?

David: During the investigation, I felt Desmond's hands for any response to pain. He didn't react when I felt his hands.

Thomas: And you're sure he isn't acting?

Desmond: I'm serious, my hands don't hurt at all. If anything, my head was hurting when I came to.

David: Another bruise was on Desmond's body - on the back of his head, which confirms his story of Chase pushing him out of the way.

Michael: Ah, I see...when Chase pushed Desmond out of the way, he hit his head on the gym floor, and that's what created the bruise on his head?

Maddie: Or, he hit his head against the gym floor so hard after I knocked him out, that's how the bruise was created.

David: There's other evidence to prove his story.

Melissa: Might you share this evidence with the rest of us, David?

David: _Of course; and that evidence being…_

 **Truth Bullet Used: Brooke's Testimony**

David: Here.

David: If there's anyone who would know the kind of physical pain Desmond was in, Brooke would know. She was there when he came to.

Brooke: Yeah, and Desey didn't rub his hands in pain, he rubbed the back of his head!

Maddie: Do you expect us to believe you? For all we know, you could be lying to protect him.

Brooke: Am not!

Jonathan: Can anyone double check to make sure that his head is bruised?

Street: Allow me. If you don't mind, Desmond.

Desmond: Go right ahead. Lemme take my hat off real quick…

David: _I'm positive she'll find the same thing I did back in the boy's locker room._

Desmond:...Ow! Ow ow ow ow! Don't push on the back of my head like that!

Street: I wasn't even pushing that hard, Desmond. But I can confirm there is a bruise back there.

Brooke: Well, Maddie? Care to explain?

Maddie: Like I said, I knocked him out and ran.

Thomas: And you expect us to believe you ran, not coming to get us? How stupid do you think I am?

Ronnie: I'm...sure she was in a panic seeing a body.

Thomas: Then where did she run to?

David: _Let's assume Maddie's story is true. If she didn't run to get us...then where did she run to?_

 _ **-The girl's locker room**_

 _-The nurse's office_

 _-The entrance_

David: Here.

David: Based on where she came from when we met her after the announcement...I can't imagine she went anywhere else but the girl's locker room.

Maddie: I wasn't thinking straight, so I ran to the girl's locker room so he wouldn't get me...then I left as soon as the Body Discovery Announcement went off so we could begin investigating.

David: So if I'm right about this...you walked in the gymnasium, witnessed Desmond standing over Chase's body, he attacked, then you went to the girl's locker room immediately after.

Maddie: Yes, that's right.

David: _Then if that's the case, something doesn't feel right here...if I recall correctly, there was a fifteen minute span of time between the time of death and the Body Discovery Announcement._

Ronnie: That seems reasonable…

Desmond: No it's not! I didn't even attack her!

Street: Then maybe I can provide you all with an explanation of what I think?

Michael: Go right ahead, Street. At this rate we're getting nowhere fast…

Street: Very well. As you all saw on the first day here, I punched Desmond and sent him to the floor in pain.

Jonathan: Okay, so what?

Maddie: You're the Ultimate Street Fighter. I second that 'so what?' by saying this proves nothing.

Street:...Let me finish. I've actually seen him throw a punch. I've supervised him shadow boxing, and I can safely say there's no feasible way for him to harm you. Or anyone, for that matter. He lacks any sort of form necessary to throw any sort of effective punch to even leave bruising.

Desmond: Thanks Street...glad to know you're fully supporting me.

Street: And it's because of that I believe this whole accusation of Desmond assaulting you is bullshit, Maddie.

Desmond: _What!? Street...did you just…_

 **Make Your Argument!**

Street: This claim of **Desmond assaulting you is impossible.**

Maddie: And why should we believe you?

Street: It's not like _I'm lying to protect him._ I'm only speaking the truth to save myself from dying!

Maxwell: **There weren't any telltale signs to prove this** , was there?

Ronnie: None from what I can tell, no!

Melissa: Weren't you listening to Street just a moment ago?

Desmond: No, you're wrong!

 **Truth Bullet Used: Street's Testimony**

 **Break!**

Desmond: Actually Maxwell, there _were_ telltale signs to prove this. Right, Street? About how Maddie was acting weird?

Street: That's right. When I took her to the nurse's office, she didn't want me to apply an ice pack to the bruising. Then she wanted to be left alone.

Brooke: Why would someone not want our group's nurse to care for them?

Maddie: Y-Yeah, I just wanted to be left alone...what's so weird about that?

Street: I think...you're lying about Desmond assaulting you.

Maddie: Oh yeah? Prove it!

Olivia: But if she's lying about the bruises...then what are they really?

David: _There's really only one way to know for sure…_

Melissa: Hey, David? Is there something on your mind? You're being awfully quiet.

David: ...Desmond. I need to see your hands again.

Brooke: Oh...I think I get it now!

Thomas: What!? What is it!?

Brooke: No no, just look at the bruises like they're _not_ bruises.

David: _Like they're not bruises…! Brooke, that's brilliant! Then that means these bruises, if I examine them in more detail are actually…_

 _-Crayon_

 _-_ _ **Makeup**_

 _-Paint_

David: Here.

David: If we look at the bruises like they're _not_ bruises, as Brooke suggests...wouldn't you say they look a lot like makeup?

Brooke: Oh yeah, it really does, Davey!

Desmond: H-Huh!? Stage makeup?

Maddie: What are you talking about? That's not possible!

Desmond: No, she's not wrong, it's just…

Thomas: How the hell didn't you notice earlier, bloke?

Desmond: Well, it's just that, y'know...I've never used stage makeup before, so I didn't recognize it at first, but now...oh! If you rub it, the stuff smears!

Maxwell: Wait, if the 'bruises' on Desmond's hands are makeup…

David: Then logically, Maddie's 'bruises' are the same - makeup. It's why she didn't want the ice pack on her face. It would mess up the little fabrication that she made for us.

Ronnie: So Desmond didn't attack Maddie, then!

Desmond: _That's what I've been saying this whole time, man…_

Melissa: Well, Maddie? What do you have to say to that?

Michael: You've already lied to this court once before, so you better explain why you've falsely accused Desmond of assaulting you.

Maddie:...Fine...the truth is, I lied about the assault. I only did it to cast suspicion away from the real killer.

Jonathan: The real killer?

Maddie: That's right. Yes, I did lie about the assault, and I'm sorry for that.

Robert: You do realize what you've just said, right?

Melissa: That Maddie knows who the real killer is. Tell us now, Maddie! If you didn't kill Chase, then who did?

Desmond: I...think she's gonna accuse me again.

Maddie: You may not have assaulted me, but you still could be the Blackened. You're a good actor, aren't you, Desmond?

David: _...This is REALLY starting to aggravate me. Very well then, I'll just have to provide some reasonable doubt on the possibility Desmond is the only one who could've done this!_

 **Make Your Argument!**

Desmond: We've been over this time and again. **I am not the killer!**

Michael: You've lied to us once, Maddie...how do we know you're not lying again?

Maddie: **I don't know how to make a contraption like that!**

Thomas: You expect us to believe that?

Maddie: If you value living, then yes!

Melissa: Ugh, this is painful to watch…

David: That's where you're wrong.

 **Truth Bullet Used: Student Report Cards**

 **Break!**

David: No, Maddie. You _do_ have the knowledge to make a trap like the one used to murder Chase.

Maddie: Got any proof of that, David?

David: As a matter of fact, I do. In the Administration Office, our report cards are kept on one of the computers. We've already determined the trap used in the murder was made in shop class, right?

Brooke: Yeah, that's where the stuff came from!

David: And there are five individuals here who have taken shop class - Desmond, Maddie, Thomas, Jonathan, and Olivia.

Maddie: Nngh...okay yeah, so what, I took shop class! That doesn't prove anything!

Desmond: It proves that I'm not the only one here who took that class.

David: Not to mention Desmond didn't do all that well from what I read…

Desmond: I-I already told you, David! I took that class for credits! That's all it was!

Ronnie: So it seems we've got our suspect list narrowed down…

David: _No, I think I've already got our prime suspect...and that person is in this very room. The person who set up the trap in the weight room, lured the victim and Desmond there, and attempted to frame him for the crime…_

 _Select Someone!_

 _-Desmond Clue_

 _-Maxwell Ackermann_

 _ **-Madelyn 'Maddie' Starr**_

 _-Jonathan Phoenix_

 _-Chelsea Inez_

 _-Ronnie Patrick_

 _-Michael Faye_

 _-Felicity Blackwell_

 _-Robert Eagler_

 _-Olivia Jones_

 _-Chase Adams_

 _-Brooke Culling_

 _-Thomas Scott_

 _-Melissa Scarlett_

 _-David Stonebreaker_

 _-Cheyenne 'Street' Reston_

David: The person of interest is you.

David: Maddie, you've tried to frame Desmond for this murder, haven't you? That's why you've lied to this court.

Maddie:...So you're accusing me just based on me telling a couple white lies? You don't have any evidence to back up your claims. Where's your proof that I even did any of this?

David: I...

Maddie: You don't have any, do you? Just what I thought!

Melissa: Honestly Maddie, I've suspected you from the very beginning. All of this seems too convenient.

Jonathan: Lemme guess, another one of your books?

Melissa: Actually no, not this time at least. It was from one of the first stories I ever read - all the evidence would make it an open and shut case, but it's the behavior of the lone witness that tells us there is more to the mystery than meets the eye.

Maddie: S-Shut up! All of that's just baseless conjecture! Nothing but a coincidence. There's no physical proof that ties me to the crime scene!

David: _...No physical proof, you say._

Desmond: Hey...David? You okay, man? Look, if you need to...just, take a deep breath, nice and slow. I can tell you're frustrated.

David: But is there really no physical proof?

Desmond: Just do what you told me to do last time. Go over the case one more time. And I'm positive you'll crack this case.

David: _You're right Desmond...I know what I need to do now. Review the case, all of the evidence, and maybe...maybe I'll find the smoking gun I need to convict the real Blackened!_

 **Thought Route Start!**

David: _Okay, let's go over everything once again. Chase was killed instantaneously by internal decapitation due to a trap the killer set. We've also had two stories presented to us on what really happened. Based on the evidence, Desmond was…_

 _ **-Unconscious on the ground**_

 _-Standing above Chase's body_

David: _Desmond was unconscious on the ground, due to Chase shoving him out of the way and leaving a bruise on the back of his head. This happened at 9:05 A.M., the time Chase was killed. And when we found the body, it was 9:20 A.M., therefore the killer only had 15 minutes to clean up. Due to how much time they had, first they…_

 _-Hid themselves_

 _ **-Dismantled the trap**_

 _-Planted the note_

David: _They dismantled the trap, due to that task taking the longest amount of time. If they had done it any later, odds are they wouldn't have had enough time because of the parts staying in the weight room. Then, they got rid of something…_

 _ **-The drill and screws**_

 _-Chase's body_

 _-The murder weapon_

David: _The killer got rid of the drill and screws, since that was the one thing we couldn't find at the scene of the crime. We know this because there was evidence in the wooden boards showing that screws were used to fasten the trap onto the ceiling. If we couldn't find them at the scene, then there's one place I can think they hid them…_

 _-The weight room_

 _ **-The locker rooms**_

 _-The storage room_

David: _The only place I can envision the killer hiding them was in the locker rooms. Just stuff them in a locker and there's no chance they'll be found. But there's no physical evidence that ties anyone to the crime scene...or is there? There's one piece of evidence we haven't addressed yet…_

 _-Brooke's Testimony_

 _-Ceiling Holes_

 _ **-Weight Room Dumbbell**_

David: _Ah yes, the dumbbell. We haven't even talked about this, or the red substance on it. Hmm...well, the substance itself was unusual...it didn't look like blood. If it was, I would've immediately recognized it. Then what other red substance could it be?_

 _-Strawberries_

 _ **-Nail polish**_

 _-Red paint_

David: _...No physical proof, eh Maddie? I think I've found that physical proof right here!_

Maddie: So? Have you got any 'physical proof' to show me now?

David: I believe so. Ladies and gentlemen of the court, I present to you the whole truth of this case.

Brooke: Here we go again…go for it, Davey.

David: To begin, let's go back to last night, when the killer put this plan in motion. Utilizing their knowledge from shop class, the killer went there to gather all the materials they needed and brought them to the weight room. I imagine this took them a few trips.

Melissa: Sounds correct.

David: On their last trip, they were spotted by Thomas, carrying a portable power drill into the gymnasium. Once everything was in place, the killer spent the rest of their evening putting the trap together for the following morning.

Jonathan: Yeah, yeah…

David: Just before going to bed, the killer wrote a fake note for Chase to find the next morning, saying Desmond wanted to go to the weight room with him. With everything in place, all the killer had to do from there was wait for their preparations to bear fruit. However, upon seeing the results, the killer panicked.

Maxwell: That sounds about right.

David: It was then the killer began cleaning up with the limited time they had. First they took the drill and started dismantling the trap, but left the parts in the weight room, not wanting to risk being caught. They then hid the drill and screws in one of the locker rooms, again, not wanting to risk getting caught.

Ronnie: I see…

David: Finalizing their cover-up, the killer used makeup to stage an assault on them and Desmond, making it look like bruises were on his hands and their face. Of course, that was their first mistake.

Thomas: And there's a second one?

David: The second mistake, and the most damning one, was how the killer handled the murder weapon, the dumbbell. For it is on this dumbbell, there was a red substance left behind that ties our Blackened to the crime scene.

 **Thought Route Complete!**

David: I'll cut to the chase, the red substance here isn't blood.

Michael: Then...what is it?

David: Hey Maddie. Is this shade of red...your nail polish?

Maddie: W-What!?

Ronnie: Wait...what? How'd she get her nail polish on the dumbbell?

Olivia: I think she scraped some of it on there when she was putting it back where it was before.

Desmond: Mind...clarifying this for us, David?

David: If the red substance on this dumbbell was blood, then all we would have to do is find out who had scratched themselves handling the murder weapon.

Street: But since there was no scratches on anyone's hands…

David: Then the only other red substance I can think of is nail polish.

Maddie: N...nggh…

Jonathan: Maddie's getting all flustered here…

Desmond: Well Maddie? Will you allow us to compare the shade of your nail polish to the red stuff on the dumbbell?

Maddie: I...that…

Maxwell: Um...Maddie?

Maddie: Done in...by nail polish...of all things!

David: We'll take that as an admission of guilt.

 **Trial End**

Monokuma: Well, I can't say that wasn't fun to watch, mainly because it was entertaining to watch you bastards go around in circles. But it seems you've finally reached a verdict! If you could all get out your ElectroIDs, all you gotta do is tap on who you think the Blackened is, and your vote is counted! And if you don't vote...you'll get punished too! Who will you pick as the Blackened? Will you pick the right choice? Or will you pick the despairingly wrong choice?

(Desmond)

Once all the votes were tallied, the slot machine returned in the courtroom, spinning once again as the lever was pulled. The slots ended on Maddie's faces, and once they came to a complete stop, the word 'GUILTY' was illuminated in bright red lights as the confetti, streamers, and airhorn bursts returned. It sure didn't feel like a win to me. Not a win at all...

"Well well well, you bastards have gone two for two now!" Monokuma congratulated. "The one who killed Chase Adams...was none other than Madelyn 'Maddie' Starr!"

All eyes were on Maddie now, having been convicted of murdering Chase.

"Maddie...is it true?" I asked her.

"What's true?" She snapped back.

"Is it true...that you wanted to kill me originally?" I repeated. After she slowly nodded, I then asked, "But why target me? What did I ever do to you?"

"You were a threat," Maddie answered simply.

"Desmond...a threat!?" Thomas exclaimed. "The hell is that supposed to me?"

"You all saw how he led the first trial," Maddie explained. "Someone like that is a major obstacle to overcome in your bid from freedom; and I wanted out of here!"

"But in the end...Chase sacrificed himself so Desmond could live…" Michael solemnly said. "Is that when you decided to try and clean up?"

"Yeah...I...I didn't mean to kill Chase, so when I saw he was dead, and Desmond was still alive...I just started freaking out and went to cleaning up the crime," Maddie continued. "Oh, Chase...I'm so sorry for this…"

"But if you didn't clean up the crime scene, you wouldn't have left the nail polish on the murder weapon," Melissa pointed out. "You left more clues for us to find. You let us uncover your crime."

"I know...I just wasn't thinking straight…" Maddie sighed, defeated. "I let my own competitiveness take over, and...look where we are now."

"Yup, like I said before. You mentally unstable teens aren't any good at planning murder. Which makes my fun last longer!" Monokuma exclaimed with a snicker.

"...Oh no," I gasped.

"Wait, we're going through this again?" Brooke shuddered.

"Yuuuuuup! She's the Blackened, she got caught, and therefore she must be executed!" Monokuma responded.

"Hey, Desmond. Catch." Maddie threw me something that I quickly caught. It was a simple hair tie with a pom pom decoration on one of the ends.

"What's this?" I wondered.

"Something to remember me by. The fire that burns in you, man...even if you may never forgive me, which I doubt you will, at least promise me you won't let that fire die out," Maddie made her last request clear, right as Michael finished reading her last rites.

"Now then, I've prepared a very special punishment for Maddie Starr, the Ultimate Cheerleader," Monokuma spoke.

"Good luck guys...I don't want forgiveness, I just wanna get this over with," Maddie added. "See you all on the other side."

"Nice seguey, sister!" Monokuma giggled. "Let's give it everything we've got! Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit's punishment time!" Monokuma exclaimed.

Her competitive nature drove her to murder...and here Maddie was, having conceded defeat and accepting her fate. While it's true, I may never wind up forgiving someone who tried to kill me...but I'll never forget her.

Monokuma produced his gavel as the red button rose up in front of where he was sitting again. Hoisting it as high as his arm would allow, Monokuma hit the button as a sprite version of Maddie appeared on the small screen.

* * *

 **GAME OVER**

 **Madelyn 'Maddie' Starr has been found guilty.**

 **Time for the punishment!**

Maddie had her arms folded in the courtroom as a wall lowered to have the chain with the metal clamp return and clasp around her neck, dragging her off at a rapid pace. The large flat screen TV showed that Maddie was on a stage that appeared to be one for a cheerleading competition. Several girls wearing Monokuma masks appeared on stage beside her.

 **We've Got Despair, Yes We Do! ~ Ultimate Cheerleader Madelyn 'Maddie' Starr's Execution: Executed**

Maddie found herself doing the routine along with the other Monokuma mask wearing girls, which we saw was Monokuma controlling her as if she was a marionette puppet. Along with simple kicks, flips, and spins, a few of the girls started lifting Maddie up and throwing her upwards, letting her land on the ground in a painful fashion. First she landed on her right ankle, crying out in pain. She was thrown over to the next group, where she landed on her left shoulder and shouting in great pain. The next group had Maddie land on her left knee, which looked like it got dislocated, causing even more pain to her. For the grand finale, the girls threw Maddie up, with Monokuma's strings holding her at the apex of the throw as a couple Monokumas with machine guns showed up and opened fire on Maddie, riddling her body with bullets until they were all empty. The strings were cut as Maddie's bloodied body fell on the stage, landing with a loud thud.

 **Madelyn 'Maddie' Starr, the Ultimate Cheerleader, has been executed.**

* * *

We were all stunned silent by the execution we witnessed. Monokuma soon returned from the execution.

"I know, I know. It was hard to top the last execution," He said.

"How could you say that!?" Olivia exclaimed.

"That doesn't change the fact it was horrifying…" Ronnie shuddered.

"Oh come on! All of you were ready to put the killer down, and now you're all here not wanting to have seen her get executed!" Monokuma's red eye glowed. "What the hell happened!?"

"It's abundantly clear that we're all just as scared as she was," David spoke. "We stick to the words 'trust' and 'friendship' because it is our hopes for this group as a whole. Because whenever we come down here, no matter what kind of mask we wear, the truth is that we're all scared to condemn someone as a Blackened. We know what happens to them when we do; we're all scared to face that reality. Nothing we do can prepare us for it."

"Alright fine. Just take the next area key and go," Monokuma huffed, holding a green key with a club decal on it. "This is the key to the Club Area! A whole new area for you bastards to murder in! Enjoy!" He handed me the key and went off.

After exchanging glances and nods with each other, we went back to the elevator. David was right, I was scared to condemn the past two Blackeneds. But if it means the show going on...then I guess I have to do what needs to be done, right?

 **Chapter 2: Killer in the Mirror (END)**

 **Survivors: 12/16**

* * *

 _Meanwhile…_

Monokuma chuckled to himself after finishing up some project. "Puhuhuhu...they're all scared, huh?" He looked at the dorms. "I guess it's time that I can start tormenting these bastards even more…"

(If there has to be one disappointing case in every Danganronpa game, I guess it had to be this one. Sorry, Magami!

So yeah, my original plan with Maddie was to make her the unsympathetic murderer this game - I think I did a decent enough job at that. While some of you may be disappointed by how things turned out, I had a couple goals I wanted to accomplish this chapter.

The first being I wanted to introduce how David does investigations - starting from Chapter 3 onwards, we'll be seeing both protagonists investigating in the Deadly Life chapters. I merely wanted to make a baseline for how both of them think.

The second thing being I wanted to make an easier case than the last one. Not every case has to be as plot twisty as the Colossus roller coaster in Thorpe Park, England, which has 10 inversions.

Now that we're done with that...big shout-outs to Nan The Keyblade Master (via review) and Beninja2698 (via PM) for going 2 for 2, and joining the correct guess club are Siege25 (via review), and Mastermind Enoshima Alicia (via Google Doc).

Until next time people!)


	13. Chapter 3 Daily Life Part 1

(Okay, so I have a mission now: Make this case not suck. Here's hoping I can do that.

Sorry for the long delay everyone. I'm still alive. So why am I back to writing this? Well, for a long time I didn't know where to go from here, and I was looking for someone to give me some feedback. I wanna give a shout-out to Omakin for inspiring me to keep going. His live reviews of each chapter I put out inspired me to keep going, since we had fun reading my and his friend's fangans.

The Reviews

Siege25: You're on the board now!

Nan The Keyblade Master: While it would be easier to just blow the Blackened's brains out with a shotgun, but nah, this is how Monokuma rolls.

Magami Kent: I was expecting a negative review, but it was delivered by you in the most hilarious way possible. 'Operation: Make Chapter 3 Not Suck', is a go!)

 **Chapter 3: Searching for Lifelines (Daily Life)**

(Desmond)

When we all left the elevator, we all decided to sit down in The Commons and process what happened. We had lost two more classmates, and it wasn't even noon yet. But even then, I still can't believe I was seen as a threat. Me, the guy who can't even lift the bar for the girls, was considered a threat because of how I conducted myself during the first Class Trial. I know, I'm a theatrical person, but that doesn't mean I know what I'm doing.

I was so lost in my own thoughts of trying to process this that I almost didn't notice someone was trying to talk to me.

"Hello? Earth to Desmond?" It was Ronnie.

"Oh?" I snapped out of my thoughts. "What's up, Ronnie?"

Ronnie sat down across from me. "I just wanted to talk with you. I also wanted to apologize for my behavior during the trial."

"About being on the train of thought that I was the Blackened?" I asked for confirmation. Ronnie was quiet at first before he answered with a nod.

"I jumped the gun and got ahead of myself big time, and for that I apologize for accusing you of any wrongdoing. For you see Desmond, I believe that when a man makes a mistake, he is responsible to own up to it," He said. "I will admit that I am rash in making judgements, but that's why I'm glad I have my coworkers to keep me on track to get to the hard hitting truth."

"Huh...have you apologized to Street yet for accusing her?" I then innocently wondered. Ronnie paused again, going quiet.

"...Uh...I haven't really worked up the confidence to do so," Ronnie responded. "I'm afraid she'll beat me up if I try to."

"Yeah," I agreed. "She'd be looking for an excuse to hurt you. Even if you did have a point at the time..."

"Not that I'm not used to it. I've made a lot of enemies in my journalistic career," Ronnie confided. "One time I even had a hit squad sent after me and my family after exposing a casino rigging scandal." When Ronnie said that, my eyes went wide with horror. "I figured them out before they could do any harm to my family, don't worry. They were deadly, but predictable. The police were lying in wait for them by the time they came to my house. You can threaten me all you want, but the second you bring my family into it is the second I aim to bring you down."

"Mom was like the same way for me. Soon as I was threatened, she set out to make that person's life hell," I commented.

"I'm going to make you a promise here, Desmond. I'll do everything I can to avoid getting ahead of myself. If it looks like I'm going to jump the gun again, I want you to steer me back on track. Is that something you can do?" Ronnie added.

"You got it, Ronnie." The two of us shook on it. We soon heard Jonathan's voice from the dormitory area.

"What the fuck...guys! Come check this out!" He called, beckoning us over to the dorms. When we got there, we found there were only six rooms with two slots for nameplates. At the end of the now shortened hall was translucent glass double doors with the wall painted with a beach scene.

"Oi! What happened to our rooms?!" Thomas exclaimed.

"Puhuhuhuhu! I did some renovations!" Monokuma soon appeared in front of us. "So yeah, Agatha Christie here wanted a pool, so I decided to give you all one! Aren't I the nicest bear ever?"

"This...isn't what I had in mind." Melissa put a hand to her chest. "I thought you'd be able to easily afford a new addition without this."

"Eh, I do get more tax dollars then I deserve...but I hate you bastards, so this is what we're doing instead," Monokuma responded. "Think of it as practice for when you go to college, where you dump all of your parents' life savings for classes you have no need for! And don't get me started on the textbook situation."

"What're we supposed to do, then?" Brooke asked.

"Figure it out, you brats," Monokuma growled. "You were all smart enough to solve two murders, so you should be able to figure out your living situations! Tah-tah!" With that, Monokuma left us with a pile of a dozen nameplates with our names on them.

"It looks like Monokuma expects us to share rooms," David deduced. "So we'll need to figure out who is staying with whom."

So the others started pairing themselves off - Michael and Thomas, Maxwell and Robert, Jonathan and Street, David and Ronnie, and finally, Brooke and Olivia. Hey, wait a minute…

Melissa and I exchanged a look with each other. "So...I guess we're sharing a room then." I said.

"Well, who would've guessed?" Melissa giggled. I couldn't help but feel this was intentional on the others' part. Especially after what happened yesterday.

We put up the name tags on our new rooms and went out to the door for the Club Area, which was at the end of the Academic Hallway in the Central Area. Olivia did the honors and inserted the key in the lock for us. Like the Heart Area wall, the Club Area wall's center turned 90 degrees as the wall folded back to allow us access.

"Alright everyone. Let's get to exploring this new area," She said with a soft smile. I could tell she was aiming to act tough. All this death was taking its toll on us.

I decided to go off on my own, since everyone was doing that themselves

I immediately watched Melissa dart into a room, which turned out to be a large library. All of the book genres were presented and neatly filed away on large shelves, and at the entrance was a glass librarian's desk. No one was there, of course, but Melissa sure looked happy.

"Oh, well I'll certainly be busy here," She mused. "Look at all these classics…"

"Guess I know where to find you regularly now, huh Melissa?" I asked with a smile.

"You could say that again, Desmond," Melissa agreed, sharing the same smile with me. I decided to ask her about what Ronnie told me.

"Hey Melissa, can I ask you something?" I spoke up.

"Hmm? What do you need?" Melissa wondered.

"Well, it's about Ronnie. He apologized to me about being so aggressive to me in the trial and getting ahead of himself. He wants to do the same to Street, but he's worried about her getting aggressive," I explained. "I'd do it myself, but I don't feel like getting beat up today."

"I see...you can leave it to me, Desmond," Melissa promised. "Only if she gets violent will I do anything."

"Are you sure? You know what her title is, right?" I then asked out of concern for her.

"Of course. But don't worry about it. My father wanted me to learn boxing to protect myself. So if it comes to blows, I'll show her how a lady fights," Melissa assured me.

"Thank you, Melissa...really, that means a lot to me." I let out a sigh of relief. "So...if you don't mind, can you go with me to look around the Club Area?"

"I wouldn't mind that at all," Melissa agreed. "The books will still be here once we're done."

We left the library and headed to the next room, which looked to be a game room. There weren't any arcade cabinets, but there was a pool table, a chess board, a second table with a few card decks, and a dartboard. Inside the room, Robert, Maxwell, and Olivia.

"Well, this seems like a perfect room to chill in," Olivia mused. "Kinda wish there was more."

"Meh, I'll take what I can get." Robert shrugged.

"I like it," Maxwell smiled. "Kinda wish we could play Texas Hold 'Em."

"Oh? You're into poker?" Melissa asked him.

"Yep, sure am. Some nights when we had a slow business day, me and some of the employees would play a few games and share some pretty entertaining stories. Of course, there wasn't any real money on the line," Maxwell explained. "Far be it from me to exploit any of my workers like that."

"How good is your poker face, Maxwell?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Mmm, not too great. I'm more in it for the friendly banter rather than winning," Maxwell admitted with a chuckle. "What about you?"

"Never played it before," I confided. Maybe if we get out of here together you could show me, Maxwell...but now's not the time to think about that.

The next room that Melissa and I went to looked to go outside...only to find out it was an indoor courtyard, with a roof over our heads that gave the impression of the daytime sky. But it was a pretty courtyard, a few flowerbeds, and there looked to be a tool shed off to the right. Inside this room was Jonathan, Michael, and David.

"I'll be honest, I kinda prefer an outdoor looking room," Jonathan confided. "Even if we're still trapped inside."

"Some greenery is nice to have, yes," David agreed. "But I know what it really does. It creates an illusion that we can get out of here."

"Do you really believe that?" Michael asked.

"That's what Monokuma wants from us. To see the bright blue sky, the fluffy white clouds...some comforts of the outside, to spark some hope in us to escape, only to crush that in his paws," David continued. "Based on what I know of the bear."

"You don't gotta be so dour about it, David," I responded. "Like...I know we can escape. I'm not giving up on that."

"True, I'm not going to resign myself to this fate either," David responded. "Apologies for being cynical."

"No, no...you've got a point," Jonathan responded. "Four of our friends are dead because of it."

"Oh, David. Mind if we talk to you about something?" Melissa asked.

"I don't mind it at all. What do you need?" David was already prepared to help. Melissa explained the situation Ronnie was in to my partner, who put a hand to his chin in thought.

"Well? I'd do it, but…" I trailed off.

"Hmm...yes, I suppose I could talk some sense into her," David agreed. "I'm not worried about getting roughed up today."

"I think I'll stick around here. This courtyard...it feels comforting. I don't know why," Michael told us. "Hopefully the others think the same."

David decided to accompany us as we continued to explore the Club Area. All that was left to check out was the Pool Lounge. We headed to the Dorms to check it out, Melissa heading in first.

The Pool Lounge had the look of the kind of thing you'd see at a luxury hotel. The pool was one of those walk in type deals, plenty of space for lounge chairs, and a hot tub too. There were changing rooms for both the guys and girls, each door having a bio lock on them. In here, we saw Thomas, Ronnie, and surprisingly, no Street or Brooke.

"Hey Thomas, have you seen Brooke anywhere?" I asked him.

"How would I know? Haven't heard a peep from that lass since she went off to the Heart Area," Thomas answered. "Said something about getting a special...whatever for ya."

"Oh, is that right? I oughta go see her," I smiled, knowing exactly what the 'something special' was. "I'm gonna go see what Brooke has for me, you two. See ya later!"

"Take care, Desmond," Melissa smiled. "David and I have something of our own to take care of...do you know where Street is, Thomas?" Ronnie knew what was coming, so his attention was on David and Melissa.

"I think she was in the Heart Area too. Try the gymnasium," Thomas suggested.

"We'll head on over that way. Come on, Ronnie," David spoke. And that was the last I heard from them for now. My next stop was the art room to see what Brooke made for me.

(David)

To be quite honest with you, I could've wrapped that case up so much shorter. As soon as I saw that note it should have immediately clicked in my mind that Desmond was being framed. Or better yet, from the word go I should've known. I really need to learn to have more faith in these people...while yes, I am gifted at what I do, I've still got a ways to go before I can really start making strides in the homicide department. At some point here I need to say 'To hell with it' and just go with what I'm feeling. Even if that would come across as weakness...

It was the main thing on my mind as we went to the gymnasium. I was so focused on it I was zoned out on anything Ronnie and Melissa were talking about. Melissa would elbow me to get my attention when we would approach Street, who was in the middle of exercising.

"Can I help you?" Street asked as she stood from doing push-ups.

"Street...we need to talk," Ronnie explained. "About what happened in the first trial."

Street folded her arms. "Alright. I'm listening."

"Look, the whole 'Your talent being evidence' was the best I had at the time," Ronnie began. "I wanted to apologize to you about getting ahead of myself, but I was afraid…"

"You were afraid...of me?" Street asked.

"He was afraid, yes," I spoke up. "Your prowess in a fight, combined with your general attitude towards him in the past few days, has given him the impression you were looking for any excuse to attack him." I could see her eyebrows furrow. "Look, I can understand how frustrating it is to be accused of wrongdoing. I know I've got some bridge mending to do with Desmond…"

"What do you mean?" Now her arms were unfolded, any sort of anger she had going to curiosity.

"I should've known he was being set up. But instead I stubbornly considered him a suspect. I can only imagine he wanted to snap at us for putting him through that…" I let out a sigh. Melissa put a hand on my shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Sounds like everyone here has bridges to mend," Ronnie mentioned. "Street, I...I wanted to own up to this mistake earlier. Yes, I was afraid, but I didn't know how you'd react to it. I already apologized to Desmond and promised him I'd strive to be better than that."

"To me it sounds like we all have some growing up to do. I can only hope he's not frustrated with us," Melissa remarked. "Even if we are pros in our respective fields, we're still young. We have our whole lives ahead of us to learn and grow."

"That's right. It's why…" Street closed her eyes, then reopened them. "Let's start fresh, you and I."

Ronnie let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, that's...that's a massive weight off my shoulders."

"I expect you to uphold your end of the promise, however," Street then told Ronnie. "I want to believe you're a man of your word."

"You'll find no man who is better at upholding his word than me, Ronald Marius Patrick," Ronnie had a soft smile, wiping a tear away from his eye.

"Oh come on, don't turn on the waterworks like that." Street rolled her eyes, but chuckled. "I can admit that I was being unreasonable. I've had time to think about it. Sorry for being such a bitch to you."

"That's all I wanted to hear," Melissa smiled. "I was expecting to have to fight you."

"You? Fighting?" Street raised an eyebrow.

"Mhm. I can fend for myself. If you want, I can show you how a lady fights," Melissa smirked with a wink.

"Well, that can be arranged," Street responded. "After dinner we'll spar. You and me. Deal?"

"It's a date," Melissa chuckled. "You boys can watch if you want."

"We'd love to," I mused. Ronnie gave a nod.

"You won't mind my commentary, will you?" Ronnie asked Street.

"Just don't try and distract me from fighting. That's all I ask of you," Street responded. While it did feel like Street had easily forgiven Ronnie, maybe she had taken a moment before we spoke with her to clear her mind. But it's just a guess.

(Desmond)

I would walk into the art room to see Brooke putting the finishing touches on what looked like a set of clothes meant for me. "Oh, Desey! Just in time! I'm almost done!"

"Hey Brooke…" I waved. She could tell something was wrong, as she set down her sewing needle when I took a seat.

"What's wrong? Still hung up about what happened?" Brooke asked.

"It's just...how could someone use me as a patsy like that? Like...I should be angry but I'm not," I explained.

"Well...maybe you're just someone who can forgive but not forget," Brooke suggested. "I knew you couldn't have done it. You're too good a person to do something so horrible."

"I know, but still…" I partially hid my face under my hat, but Brooke pushed it up to look me in the eyes.

"Desey, tell me something," Brooke spoke. "Were you ever taken advantage of in life?"

"Bullies trying to get me to do stupid stuff, yeah," I responded.

"Did you ever hold any grudges against them?" Brooke then asked. "Like...did you ever want revenge?"

"...No...as a matter of fact, I never did," I responded. I'm not a very vengeful person by nature. "Mom always taught me to be the bigger person."

"I'd say you're doing that right now," Brooke smiled. "And I wanna follow your example."

"Why would you want to have me be your role model? You really do seem wise for a kid your age…" I remarked.

"Kinda have to be, honestly…" Brooke shrugged. "But that's not what I'm worried about. You're not a 'threat' to anyone. If anything, you're the opposite. You're a symbol of strength to us all."

"I am? What do you mean by that?" I raised an eyebrow.

"You're not one to give up no matter how bad things look. We look at that and think we might get out of here because you're not giving into despair. I'm still hanging in there because of you and the others," Brooke explained. "It's your heart that's strong, Desey. Who cares about how much you can lift when you can lift spirits?"

A smile crept on my face as I started to get misty-eyed. "You have...no idea how much that means to me." I wrapped my arms around her in a hug, and she responded in kind, almost knocking me out of my seat.

"I think I do!" Brooke giggled. "So anyway, I almost got your new clothes ready! Can you wait just a moment please?"

"Sure thing. Take whatever time you need, Brooke," I answered. "I'll be right here." She let go of me and went back to work. Once she was done, she handed me the clothes as the two of us headed over to the auditorium's dressing room for me to get changed.

I looked myself in the mirror once I stepped out - while I kept my dress shoes and hat, I was wearing a baby blue and snow white pinstripe suit jacket, buttoned at the middle to cover a pale peach dress shirt and raven black half-windsor tie, having matching trousers that reached down just above my shoes. Inside the suit jacket pocket was a clean white handkerchief. The clothing itself was extremely well made - owing to Brooke's talent.

"Well? How'd I do?" Brooke asked.

"Y'know I gotta say, this is pretty snazzy," I remarked. "Feels like Frank Sinatra…"

"I just went with the first musician I could think of that you might like," Brooke confided.

"Admittedly I'm more of a Queen fan, but I've got nothing against a classic," I complimented. "Thanks Brooke."

"You're welcome!" Brooke beamed. "Should we go and see what the others found?"

"You mean, you didn't look around the new area?" I wondered.

"Soon as we were done with the trial, I came right here to finish working on your new clothes," Brooke explained. "I wanna see what the others found."

"True, let's go talk with the others." With Brooke walking beside me, we all met up at the Commons to report our findings on the Club Area.

"Alright, who wants to start?" Maxwell asked.

"Why not you?" Jonathan suggested.

"Okay. Olivia, Robert, and I found a little game room in the Club Area," Maxwell explained. "Couple card decks, a billiards table, and a dart board."

"Feels like what you'd see at a pub," Thomas remarked. "Well, I checked out that pool Monokuma put in. It's really high-end stuff."

"High end? How so?" Brooke wondered.

"High end as in, it's something you'd see at a resort and not a bed and breakfast," Thomas explained. "I'm not sure whether to thank Melissa or curse her out for the lack of privacy."

"I didn't realize Monokuma would do it in the fashion of the Monkey's Paw." Melissa leaned back in her chair casually. "Anywho, I found a library. I even saw my own books in there too."

"Guess we know where to find you from now on, huh?" Michael mused. "I found a courtyard with Jonathan and David. Of course, it's just indoor, but it still looks pretty."

"Surprised there's not too many rooms in the Club Area…" Robert remarked.

"Oh, about that. I noticed that there was a second floor in this part of the school. Considering that the Club Area is connected to the Academic Wing, maybe there's a second floor to it," Melissa added.

"A second floor...well, let's hope we don't have to go up there anytime soon," Ronnie spoke.

"Yeah. Agreed," I commented. I looked up at the clock to see it was around time for dinner. "So, shall we have dinner together, everyone?"

Everyone nodded in agreement as we all went ahead and got ourselves food. I had myself a pulled pork sandwich with some steak fries. As I was digging in, David would sit across from me.

"Hey, Desmond...mind if we talk?" David asked. I could hear something was on his mind.

"After dinner, yeah. Wanna go to the library to talk about it?" I offered.

"Sounds good to me." David had a mere calzone and a small container of marinara sauce to dip it in. We would finish our dinner and head off to the library. We saw a pair of comfy chairs and decided to take a seat in those.

"Alright, so what did you want to talk about?" I wondered.

"It's about the case," David began. "About this whole...suspecting you of any wrongdoing. I was just following what I knew." I was worried that this would be what David would talk to me about. Though Brooke was right, I'm not one to hold grudges.

"I see...but like, we're partners. Why didn't you want to believe in me?" I would ask. "Why treat me like a suspect?"

"When on a case, I want to look at it from every angle...even if some angles are clearly absurd," David confided. "But when I saw that note, I should've known 'Wait. This isn't something Desmond would do.' At that point I should've had it clicked that you were being set up."

"Well...thanks for coming up with the handwriting thing," I responded. Even if he was trying to hide it, I could tell there was regret in his voice. It was clear as day to me he felt bad about that whole charade. "David, I'm not mad, I'm just saying...why not just trust your heart instead of purely evidence or protocol or...whatever?"

"..." David was quiet, closing his eyes in thought. "I...don't think I've mentioned this to you before." He took a moment to think about what he would say. Out of courtesy, I decided to make sure the library doors were closed before sitting back down to hear him out.

"You can tell me anything you want, David," I assured him. "I'm here for you all the way."

"Remember your initial reaction to seeing Felicity on the auditorium stage?" David asked. I slowly nodded. "Internally...I felt horrified too. Despite the amount of cases I've helped on, the amount of autopsies I've assisted with, I never got used to the sight of death."

"I don't think I'll ever get used to the sight of people we consider friends dying, man," I responded.

"I want to help those who have lost their loved ones or friends get closure. But...I'm worried that if I show my emotions, I'll look weak," David continued. "It might get me taken out of the job, and I don't want that. So that's why I've tried to hide my emotions away for so long."

Well, you're not doing a very good job of hiding it from me, David. I can hear that he's hurting, but I don't know what to tell him. But I'm gonna try anyway.

"David, emotions aren't a weakness…" I said. "They can be a strength. I mean...look at me. I have every right to be angry after what happened, but I'm not holding a grudge. I have every right to be sad and fearful after four of our classmates have died, but here I am, being brave about it."

"While that much is true, don't you think emotions can cloud your judgement?" David responded. I went silent. "I'll take your silence as a yes."

"Yeah...like, emotions can make us do stuff, but that doesn't mean they're all bad," I responded. "You don't have to bottle up your emotions like this. It's not healthy for you."

"I'm aware of that Desmond...but when it comes to my profession, I have to chill my heart and check every angle to come to the correct deduction," David responded. "I can feel just like you, Desmond. How is me doing that during investigations any different from what you do during the trials?"

"...A fair point," I conceded. "The only difference is that you're with the police, I'm just a normal choir boy. I'm not like you."

"Don't worry about trying to be me, Desmond," David assured me. "Worry about being yourself. You don't have to be a super sleuth to get us through the trials. You can do that on your own." There was compassion in his voice, clear as day.

"You're forgiven man. I'm not someone who can hold a grudge," I confided. "So, we're good?"

"Good as gold, partner," David responded. He told me about what happened between Ronnie and Street...and how Melissa and Street were slated to spar.

"...I wanna go watch that," I told him.

"Well come on, we can probably still watch it if we hurry," David encouraged. With a nod, the two of us headed to the gymnasium to see both Melissa and Street in a pair of white t-shirts and red gym shorts. Both had on gloves that didn't seem out of place in those cage fights. Ronnie was there too.

"Ah, David! Just in time," Ronnie greeted. "And I see you brought Desmond."

"He wanted to watch the spar," David explained.

"You just wanted to see me fight, didn't you?" Melissa smirked. "Don't worry, Street and I both agreed to try not and bust up each others' faces too much."

"Maybe...but I just wanted to watch," I responded. "If that's okay with you both."

"I don't mind at all. You might learn something from it," Street told me. Once us three boys gave Melissa and Street enough space, both of them squared up and had started the fight on the word go.

Right away, I could see Melissa wasn't kidding when she said she knew how to fight. She seemed to be fighting with Street pretty evenly on her feet. But at the same time, I was watching Street take hit after hit to her gut, and hardly be fazed by Melissa's punches.

"So, you fight like a boxer, huh?" Street would ask Melissa.

"It's what my father wanted me to learn, yes," Melissa responded honestly.

"I see…" Street seemed to be formulating a plan in her mind from what David, Ronnie, and I could tell. Without hesitating after another body blow, Street would grab Melissa in some sort of hold and trip her, both of them landing on the mat.

"Oh, what a takedown!" Ronnie exclaimed.

With Melissa on her back, Street would grab her arm and put her in a hold I haven't seen before, but it did get Melissa to tap out.

"That...was my bad…" Melissa chuckled, rubbing her shoulder.

"Were we to match fists in a boxing ring, I have no doubt we'd be evenly matched," Street told Melissa. "And that's...honestly surprising."

"What is your secret to success anyway? It's like all those gut shots weren't doing anything," Melissa wondered.

"Toughness. Toughness, and a will to survive," Street answered honestly.

"Well, it's clear that you are quite the skilled martial artist," David remarked.

"Yeah. I took some time while you were all exploring the Club Area to vent some frustrations here. In hindsight, had I done this earlier, we would've been on good terms earlier, Ronnie," Street added.

"That's a relief," Ronnie sighed.

"Next time I get worked up over something, I'll be immediately here. I'd rather no one get in my way when I'm doing so." Street helped Melissa up. "C'mon, I'll get you fixed up if you need it."

When they went off, the PA made a familiar announcement. "Attention students, it is now 10 pm, so nighttime has begun. Sleep tight, and don't let the bedbugs bite," Monokuma's voice was heard.

"I'm gonna head to bed guys, sleep tight," I told David and Ronnie. They waved me good night as I headed off to my room for a much needed good night's sleep. When I went to the room Melissa and I were sharing, I saw that the beds were now big enough to comfortably fit two people. It's better than just having a regular old bed and trying to share it. I got changed into my pajamas and was out like a light as soon as my head hit the pillow.

(Finally back to writing, and man does it feel good.

Again, I want to take a moment to give props to my new friend Omakin for reading my fangan and providing me feedback. Instead of trying to make this chapter better than the last one, I'm going to try and make this chapter better than Chapter 1! So here's hoping I can do that. My update schedule will be...whenever I get to writing. So here's hoping this tides you guys over. Thank you all for the patience, bye for now!)


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